Histories
by CappinicinoGirl
Summary: Her past was haunted, her future uncertain at least it was until she met the Titans. When Laura came to Jump City, she was looking for an escape, an escape from him. But when she met the Titans she was pushed even closer to him than she ever wanted to be.
1. The Prolog

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, but Laura and her adoptive parents are forever more mine, and I have a really cool and smooth rock that you can't touch! Guards rock suspiciously If I even catch you looking at it you will feel my wrath! No nothing will happen; at least nothing that will hurt you. But be warned, I will defiantly glare angrily at you. Same goes for my characters, although then I may have to hurt you.**

**Summary: Her past was haunted, her future uncertain; at least it was until she met the Titans. When Laura came to Jump City, she was looking for an escape, an escape from him. But when she met the Titans she was pushed even closer to him than she ever wanted to be in her life. However, the longer she stays with the Titans, the harder it gets to leave.**

**A/N: Yes it is I, the popular author, so not the most popular, who brought you such hits as Heroes Don't Cry, Emerald Eyes, and the hit that I just happened to be redoing at the very moment, which you are about to read, Father Figure. I know what you're thinking, why would she redo it? It was already so great before! But I kept getting stuck when I was writing the last one, so I decided to redo the entire thing! Hopefully this one will be easier to write than the other one, because I really want to make this work. And what you probably noticed, every time I change my name, I have gone through a change. Well now I am more better of a writer, and the best reinvented me ever! So, as you are probably thinking, when is she going to shut up and get on with the story? Well here's your dream come true, I present The Prolog! **

**The Prolog**

A man watched as a small but familiar log cabin went up in flames, his face hidden among the shadows from the bushes he crouched in. He smiled, watching the firemen frantically trying to prevent the fire from moving on the large forest that surrounded the house. In the middle of all of this craziness, a worried couple stood, waiting for information about their friends who had owned the house, and were still inside.

Just then, a fireman walked out of the burning house, carrying a small, moving blanket carefully with him. The couple hurried over to him as he handed the blanket to paramedics.

"Is she ok?" the woman asked as a young paramedic looked over the small dark haired baby girl that lay inside the blanket. The couple looked at the young man, waiting for an answer, but all they got from him was the stunned look on his face.

"Impossible," he whispered to himself, then looked at the couple that still waited for an answer, "She fine. She wasn't burned at all; the only injury is to her back from when a curtain rod fell on her."

"Well isn't that a good thing?" the man asked, confused by the paramedic's shock at the infants condition.

"Well, yes. But there were flames all around the crib she was in." he explained to the husband and wife, "We didn't expect her to make it, but now... she should be out of the hospital tonight after we take some x-rays of her back. To make sure it's not broken."

"It's a miracle," the woman said, relieved. Then her face took on a serious, concerned look, "What about her parents?" The paramedic was about to answer her when, as if on cue, two more firemen came out of the house, carrying to badly burned bodies, with sullen looks on their faces.

"They have a pulse," one of them announced to the group, "But barely. They won't make it through the night." A small cry escaped from the woman's mouth, the only sound that came from the group. Her husband put his arms around her, trying to comfort her. The two bodies were put into ambulances to be taken to the hospital, and the infant in another one with the old couple.

With only the firemen left fending off the raging fire, the man got up from his spot in the bushes, and walked off laughing to himself. Everything was going according to plan. Soon the infant girl would be his, and no one could stop him now.

* * *

The man watched as the last light went off in a small house he stood outside of, he then waited half an hour more until he walked around the corner of the house, and opened a small window, barely big enough for him to fit through, and crawled inside the quiet nursery. He walked over to the white crib that sat in the far corner of the nursery, and looked at the sleeping baby girl that was lying inside. He looked at her only for a moment before he gently turned her on her back, softly running the back of his hand up it. He removed his hand as the girl slightly stirred in her sleep, placing his large hand on her small back a few minutes later. He closed his eyes as he began to softly chant, so soft it could barely be heard, and a red energy emitted from his hand. The energy soon traveled to the girl's back, causing her to wake and scream out in pain. He removed his hand and looked at the glowing red "S" like symbol that was now tattooed at the base of her back, right where her scar ended. He spun around as he heard the woman hurrying down the hall, and he ran to the window he came in, closing it just as the woman entered to room, holding a warm bottle of milk. She walked up to the girl whispering something to herself. 

"Poor child," she said picking up the child, "ever since your parents died you've been waking up in the middle of the night with nightmares." She looked caringly down at the girl, and then her expression grew concerned as she felt warmth on her hand. She gently turned the baby over to look at her back, and gasped to see the glowing "S" on the girl's back. She called for her husband, and he came as quickly as he could.

"Look at this," she said, obviously very worried, "Do you know what it is?"

"I don't have a clue," he said, an alarmed look at his face as well, "Maybe we should have a doctor look at it."

"I'll take her in to the office tomorrow," the woman said, not wanting to put the child down, "Do you think she'll be ok?"

"I don't know," the man said, "We should take her to the doctor, have them check it out."

"Don't worry my sweet little child," the women cooed gently, "You'll be okay Laura."

* * *

**A/N: Yay! A wonder prolog redone, ok it's pretty much the same as before, but I like this better, so you had better review. No flames, but constructive criticism is allowed. Thank and review, please. **


	2. The First Chapter

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. And I don't see why I have to spend valuable writing time coming up with a funny disclaimer when most of the time, you people don't even read them. But I will keep writing the actual disclaimer. Reassures lawyers**

**A/N: Hello and welcome to the first official chapter of Histories! I would like to congratulate,** **mattchew****, on receiving my first reviewer for this particular story award! Just so you know, I am working on making my chapters longer, but the previous "chapter" was only the prolog, so I didn't want to drag on an on with it, when actually it can be written quite shortly. But worry not, I will work my hardest to make the chapters longer and stop wasting time in the little Authors Note, which also really isn't always needed.**

**Chapter One: FightFire With Fire**

"Titans trouble!" Robin yelled for his team as the alarm went off throughout the Tower. As the four other Titans rushed into the main room of Titans Tower, he began to explain what was happening, "Slade's robots have been spotted in town causing trouble, we need to stop them." With that said, the Titans rushed out of the Tower.

* * *

"You guys really must like me," a girl said, talking to the two robots that were closing in on her, cornering her in the small alleyway that she had run to, "That makes me feel bad that I'm going to have to hurt you." She then took out two guns from their holsters that were on her legs, she fired two bullets each of them aimed directly at one of the robots' heads, but at the last second they were able to duck out of the way, avoiding the speeding bullet. 

"Duck!" Cyborg shouted as he saw the rapid bullet heading right for the team, but Raven had already stopped the bullet in midair.

"I'm guessing Slade's robots didn't fire that," Beast Boy said, seeing that the bullet wasn't the usual laser that Slade's robots carried.

"Then who's is it?" Starfire questioned looking at the direction it was fired from. Then, as if to answer her question, a burst a flames lit up the small alley and the Titans saw the source of the bullet, and fire. A girl that couldn't be any older the sixteen or seventeen, who was fighting off two of Slade's robots. She had jet black hair that was pulled back into a braid, with a few pieces of hair that refused to be kept back in the braid. She wore a light brown tank top, darker brown shorts, and dark combat boots. Her slate grey eyes looked the Titans way as the fire died down, then back at the robots she was fighting, who had taken advantage of her short loss of focus to pin her to the wall.

"Ahhh!" her scream echoed through the alley. The Titans quickly realized what they had down, and sprang into action.

"Titans Go!" Robin said as he ran towards the robots, that were preparing their lasers to fire at the girl. When he was only a short distance away from them, he jumped into the air, bringing his bo staff down on their heads, freeing the girl from their grasp.

"Thanks," she said quickly before she ran at the robots, hitting them both directly in the stomach, causing them to stumble back, giving the rest of the Titans a chance to jump in the fight.

Starfire quickly dove in, shooting a string of starbolts at the two robots, quickly followed by Beast Boy who came up right behind her, surprising the two robots. He took advantage of this time attack te two, ripping off one of their arms as a wolf. The girl stood in the back of the alley, not sure where these people came from, decided to end this fight before anything else happened. She took out two hand guns from their holsters, and shot one bullet directly into their chests. Each of them immediatly fell to the ground, shutting off.

"What did you do?" Cyborg asked, looking down at the robots.

"It was just one of their weak spots," she said, beginning to walk away.

"Wait," Robin said stopping her, "How did you know their weak spots?"

"I just do," she shot at them, obviously a very private person. Just as Robin opened his mouth to question her more, a ticking noise came from behind them. The girl walked over to the two robots that were lying on the ground, and just as she did, the robots blew up, sending her flying across the alley, while Raven had reacted by putting a force field around the Titans, not thinking about the girl.

While all of this was happening, a faint laughter could barely be heard from a roof that overlooked the alley. The laugh was deep and strong, but it quickly died off as a man, masked by the darkness of the night, walked away from the scene.

* * *

Laura slowly opened her eyes, which felt like two ton weighs. "Ohh," she moaned bringing her hand to her head, it was throbbing, and the all white room she was in didn't make it feel better. She looked around, where was she? None of this was familiar, and with all of the beeping medical equipment, was she in a hospital? How did she even get here? The last thing she remembered was in the alley, with those other teens. Did they take her here? Wherever here was. 

"I'm getting out of here," she whispered to herself, pulling a tube out of her arm carefully. Just then she heard voices outside of a door that was to her left. She walked up to it, putting her ear to the cold metal, trying to better hear the muffled voices that were coming from behind it.

"I don't want her staying here," she heard someone say, the spiky-haired one, she remembered.

"But friend Robin, she is injured, we cannot just throw her out," an unfamiliar voice pointed out.

"Star's right Robin, what if Slade's robots come after her?" a voice she remembered as the half-robot's said, "There's no way she could fight them off in this condition."

"How do we know that wasn't all a trick?" a monotone voice asked, "She could be working for Slade. We don't know anything about her."

"Come on Rae, you and Robin always think that everyone is working for Slade," another unfamiliar voice said, "Can't we just give her a chance?"

"No," the spiky-haired one, Robin she guessed, said. Just then the door slid open, causing her to fall forward, being caught by... Robin, she remembered.

"Hi," she said indifferently, standing up.

"Are you ok?" he asked looking at her.

"I'm fine," she said, pushing her way past the group, "And don't worry, I was just leaving."

"So you heard that?" the green one asked as the group followed her down the hall.

"No, when I was pressing my ear to the door, it was just to see if it was hollow or not, so I could kick it in," she laughed.

"Well you can't just leave," the robot told her, "You suffered a severe concussion; I'm surprised the flames alone didn't kill you."

"And the flames shooting out of my hands earlier, yeah that was all just an illusion."

"Can you be serious for one minute?" a girl wearing all blue asked, "Who are you?"

"That, I will not tell you," she said, "I don't know you, and I really don't care to _get_ to know you."

"Well at least tell us why Slade is after you," Robin commanded her.

"No," she said, "And how do you know he was even after me? I could just be here working for him."

"We only wish to help you friend," Starfire said, calling her friend by habit.

"I am not your friend!" she snapped at her, spinning around to face them, "I don't need your help, I've been doing fine fighting off that madman on my own, and I don't need you to ruin that for me!" The Titans looked at her, shocked and taken aback.

"I'm going home," she said, walking out of the Tower, "So you can all just leave me alone."

* * *

Laura walked down the thin long alley, stopping in front of a large dumpster. She waited for a moment, taking time to look around and see if anyone had followed her, before she moved the dumpster, revealing a door behind it. She opened the door and walked into what looked like an abandoned warehouse, filled with boxes. She didn't go in far before she sat down on one of the boxes, rubbing her head. 

"Hmph," the noise escaped from her almost involuntarily, "Home sweet home."

* * *

"Dudes," Beast Boy said running into Cyborg's room, "You know that alley we found her in?" 

"The girl is living in an alley? How horrible, we must help," Starfire insisted without hearing the rest of what Beast Boy had to say.

"No," Beast Boy said, "But there was this dumpster and a door, and she just moved it and went it."

"So she lives in a dumpster?" Cyborg asked, a look of confusion on his face, "I'd live in the alley."

"No she lives in the warehouse behind the dumpster," Beast Boy put his hand to his head, "I saw it all, she moved the dumpster aside, and behind it was this door. After she opened the door, she just went in and sat down on this box, and said home sweet home. She didn't look too happy."

"Then we must help her," Starfire said, "She should not have to live in a dusty old house of wares."

"But how?" Cyborg wondered, "She made it clear she didn't want our help, and Robin and Raven don't want to help her anyway."

"Well we have to think of something, we can't just let her live in that dust trap," Beast Boy argued, "We have to convince her to come live with us, at least until she gets on her feet."

"She seemed pretty much on her feet to me," Cyborg said, "At least when it comes to her fighting. And what about Robin and Raven? They'd never let her stay here."

"Then we won't tell them," Beast Boy said.

"That does not sound right," Starfire put in, "We should not keep secrets from our friends."

"Star's right," Cyborg said, "And I don't think hiding a person for very long would be easy. We would have to somehow convince them to help her."

"Fine, but I'm not going to be the one to talk to Raven," Beast Boy said, "Last time we got in an arguement, I had a wedgie for a week."

"I shall talk to Raven," Starfire said.

"But that means you have to convince this girl to stay with us," Cyborg added, "I'll talk to Robin."

"That's fine with me," Beast boy said, "At least I know she can't throw me out a window without moving."

"This will not be easy," Starfire stated.

"But we still have to try," Cyborg finished.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter finished! See I told you the story would be different. And here my promise comes to life. So don't you even think that I'm going to give up on this story. So please review and let me know what you think! I could really use to know what needs to be improved about the story, so let me know. **


	3. The Second Chapter

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, or anything related to Teen Titans. Just ask my friend mister Super Lawyer! When you're in trouble with the law, have no fear, Super Lawyer is hear. Cue original theme music He's not a bird, or a plane; he's just some short bald guy in a polyester suit!**

**A/N: Yes and with super lawyer on my side I shall rule over this story! Thank you to my faithful reviewers, like I said in previous chapters, i.e. last chapter, I am working on the length thing. It may be slow, but it will happen, so have faith in me. And about the fight scenes, I will work on those; I'm reading books with fight scenes in them, to help me. I'm not the best at fighting. And to my second reviewer, Laura is around the same age as the Titans, I'm not sure about their age in the show, but this story is a couple of years in the future when they are about seventeen and eighteen. So without further ado, chapter two!**

**Chapter Two**

Laura closed her eyes, which still felt as though they were being pulled down by two weights, and clasped her fingers around a chain that she wore around her neck. She slowly moved her fingers down the chain, reaching a cold metal ring that hung at the end. But because of the length of the chain, the ring hung below the neckline of her tank top. In her head she could picture exactly what it looked like. The smooth gold metal formed a perfect fit to her finger, and on the outside of the ring was something printed in a strange red writing. The ring was the only thing that survived the fire that killed her parents when he was only an infant. It had belonged to her mother; and try as she might, she couldn't find anyone who knew what the writing on the ring read.

Whenever she wore the ring, she felt closer to her mother, even though se couldn't even remember the woman's face. But when she didn't wear it she would often wake up in the middle of the night terrified from violent nightmares of watching her mother burn to death in the fire that had made her an orphan. She dropped the ring and brought her hand to her face, quickly wiping away a tear that fell from her eye, and before another minute could pass, she felt a warm feeling on her lower back.

"Crap," she whispered to herself standing up. Within seconds a searing pain shot up her spine. She fell to the floor screaming out from the burning pain, and grabbed her head with both of her hands.

'_No one can help you,'_ she heard a voice say in her head, _'but you knew that, you knew that they would only make it worse for you, bring you more pain. You can't run forever child, one day you will be running to me.'_

"No," she whispered, shaking her head, "Just leave me alone, I'll never join you."

'_You won't be saying that for long,'_ the voice said, laughing at her, _'you're growing weaker by the day. You would never have turned you're back on the enemy before, I'm beginning to get concerned.'_

"I... can take care... of myself," she struggled to say. As she heard the deep, mocking laugh in her head, her vision began to blur, and she soon black out completely.

* * *

"_But mommy, I can't go today," a young, dark haired girl said, faking a cough the best that she could, "See, I'm sick."_

"_Well then we're in the perfect place," the older woman said, ignoring that the young girl called her mommy, "Laura you have to go you know that. The doctors are only here to help you."_

"_But I don't like them," the five year old said skipping to keep up with the woman as they walked up to the small doctors office._

"_You want to get better don't you?" she asked looking at the child she had raised so far._

"_Yes mommy," she said looking down at her feet, going slower on purpose now._

"_Hurry up sweetie," the woman said stepping into the lobby of the office. She and Laura walked up to the front desk, and rang the bell for a secretary._

"_Hi Amy," A young woman, maybe in her twenties, said walking to the front desk, "Here for your appointment?"_

"_Yeah," the woman said taking the pen and paper from the secretary, "They just want to run a few tests today, nothing new." Ever since Laura was an infant the couple had taken her to this clinic to find out what was wrong with her. At the most random times, she would complain of feeling hot, and then she would start screaming out in pain. Ever since that night Amy found the strange mark on her back it would happen, with no warning of when or why it would it happen. She took her daughter to these doctors seeking help, but after nearly four years, all she got out of it was her daughter fighting to come here. She figured that it was only because the girl hated sitting still for more than five minutes at a time, but every week she took Laura here, the girl would fight harder and harder not to come. _

"_Laura?" Amy looked around for her daughter who she had let go of so that she could fill out the forms for Laura's appointment. She gasped when she saw her daughter crouched down by a small fish tank that was in the center of the lobby, hunched over as she clutched her head with both of her hands. She rushed over to Laura, just as she started screaming out in pain. The woman hugged the girl tightly, trying to calm her, but Laura only kept on screaming as if she didn't realize that her adoptive mother was even there._

"_Get a doctor!" she yelled out, still hugging her daughter. "It's happening", she said, "this is it!" she panicked as one of Laura's doctors rushed over to them. He and another one of her doctors rushed her into the back, as her mother hurried behind them_

"_It's going to be ok honey," she said as she stood next to her daughter, who was now lying down on a bed in a back room, still screaming. But soon screams slowly quieted and a team of doctors that the family knew very well by now walked into the room._

"_Hey sweetie," one of the older doctors said, walking up to Laura as she sat up, "Are you feeling better now?" The child remained quiet but nodded her head._

"_That wasn't one of the worse ones," Amy said rubbing her daughters back._

"_They get worse?" a young nurse asked, "I think that screaming woke up half the city."_

"_Yes and half the country couldn't fall asleep for weeks after her last episode," the girl's mother commented, "I've been dealing with these things for four years, while I pay you to get nowhere with her."_

"_We're doing our best, Mrs. Boehm," a doctor said, "We've never dealt with anything like this before. And this is the first time we've seen her when she was having an episode."_

"_I'm just upset," she said, bringing her hand to her head, "I can't stand to see my daughter in pain."_

"_Well we're not going to give up ma'am," the doctor said, "We don't like to see her in pain either."_

"_We had better get going on her tests," a nurse said walking up to the two._

"_Then I'll be waiting in the lobby if Laura needs me," the woman said walking towards the door._

"_She should be fine," one of the doctors said, "But we'll be there in a second if she does need you."

* * *

_

"_Daddy, I don't want to go back there ever again," Laura said leaning her head on her adoptive father's shoulder, "Those doctors are mean."_

"_Honey, they're not trying to be mean," the man said to his daughter, "They're only trying to help. They want to see you happy just as much as you're mom and I do."_

"_But they don't make me happy," Laura said, "and you don't want to see me unhappy. Tell mommy not to take me back ever again."_

"_I don't think she'll listen, honey," the man said, "Because she wears the pants in the family," he added under his breath._

"_But mommy likes to wear dresses and skirts daddy," Laura said looking up at him, "You're the one that wears pants."_

"_Well don't you have the best ears," he said smiling down at his daughter, "But it's bedtime now." He added tucking Laura into her bed, and kissing her on the forehead._

"_Goodnight sweetie," he said turning off the lights as he walked out of the room._

"_Goodnight daddy," she whispered over a yawn, "I love you."_

"_I love you too honey," he said before he closed the door.

* * *

_

"_See Biscuit," Laura spoke to her small stuffed dog in the dark, "Daddy wants to help us, but mommy won't let him." Answered only by silence._

"_That's not fair," she turned over on her side, "Mommy's only trying to help us get better, it's those nasty doctors that are hurting us. Mommy doesn't realize how mean they are." She paused looking at the dog's face even in the dark._

"_Yes, it is very odd that they won't let me see mommy during my appointments," Laura said, "If we could trick them into letting mommy in she wouldn't ever take me back there!" she paused again, as if listening to him talk back to her._

"_Biscuit you're a genius!" she said, "But what if they stop being mean when mommy gets in the room? We'll have to think of something else." She yawned again, closing her eyes._

"_Goodnight Biscuit," she said hugging the small rottewheiler close to her as she fell asleep.

* * *

_

"Hello?" Laura heard a voice say as she came too. She snapped her eyes open as quickly as she could, only to be faced with a blurry green blob directly in her face.

"Ahhh!" she screamed punching the blob directly in the center of it, only to see that it was one of the teenagers that helped her earlier that day as her vision cleared up.

"Ow, my nose," he yelled as he jumped back, holding his face, "I think you broke it!"

"Oh my god," she said jumping up and rushing over to him, "I'm so sorry, you scared me."

"But you broke my nose!" he screamed, "How do you just brake someone's nose!"

"I guess I'm just strong," she explained, actually she knew she was very strong, it was something she was working on controlling, "Let me see it." She moved his hands from his face, looking at his nose.

"It's pretty swollen," she examined his nose, "But not broken, you'll be fine." She paused for a minute, thinking, "Wait. How did you find me here?" she asked angrily.

"I may have followed you yesterday as a fly," he said, his hands back on his nose.

"Yesterday!" she shouted, "What time is it?"

"About noon," he said, "You know, you really do sleep late."

"Yeah," she said absentmindedly, not telling him that she hadn't exactly been sleeping, "I stay up pretty late. What do you want anyway?"

"Oh right," he touched his nose lightly, cringing in pain, "I came to talk you into staying at Titans Tower."

"You mean that giant "T" you brought me to the other day?" she asked, "I thought I already told you I wasn't going to stay with you."

"Yeah, but you that was before we knew you lived in here," he gestured around at the warehouse, "We can't let you live here."

"Really, I didn't know you told me where to live," she said sitting back down, "I'm not going to live with you guys, that's not going to change anytime soon."

"We just want to help," he said, getting angry, "Cyborg says that you could be in real trouble if you don't let him finish testing you. He says there could be more wrong with you than what we first found."

"Look, I'm doing fine," she said, "And why do you want to help me so much? You don't even know my name!"

"Because you won't tell us," he shot back at her.

"Because I don't want to know you!" she exclaimed, "I just want to be left alone!"

"Well I'm sorry, but that's not really what we do," he told her, "We don't leave people alone very well."

"Well learn how to," she said, "Because I don't want, or need, you're help." Just then her vision began to blur again, and she fell to her knees.

"Obviously you do," Beast Boy said, helping her up slowly, "Just let us help you. You don't have to stay with us, just let Cyborg see what's wrong." Laura didn't say anything, but nodded her head weakly as the green boy helped her out the door, and turned into a bird, flying her on his back to Titans Tower.

* * *

**A/N:** **Ok, that was different from the first time I did it, but I finally know where this story is going, so it should run much smoother. Please if you could review, no flames, but criticism is welcome. Not that I want any, but I would want to know what I'm doing wrong, or if you have any questions please let me know.**


	4. The Third Chapter

**Disclaimer: I don't on Teen Titans, is that what you wanted to hear? Well you did, so sop badgering me! Breaks down in tears**

**A/N: Ok, I really don't like the way I ended the last chapter, but I can't really change that, well I could, but I'm much too much lazy to do that, so it's decided, the last chapter remains as is.**

**Chapter Three**

"I don't want her staying here," Robin said walking out of the evidence room, Cyborg following him close behind.

"Come on man," Cyborg pleaded, "You can't just let her live in some old warehouse. She could get hurt."

"I don't care," he said as they both walked into the main room, and sat down at the computer, "She doesn't want our help anyway, remember?"

"Well maybe if she didn't hear you calling her a spy, she would take our help," Cyborg walked around the chair Robin was sitting in to face him.

"Which we aren't offering," Robin pointed out.

"Maybe you're not," Cyborg said, "But the rest of us want to help this girl."

"Raven doesn't," he corrected, "and she's usually right about these things. If she doesn't trust this girl, then there's probably something up with her."

"Maybe Raven's wrong," Cyborg offered, "No one can always be right."

"Well she usually is, and what makes you think she's wrong about this?" he questioned, looking at Cyborg square in the eye.

"I don't know, maybe she's picking up some bad vibes from you!" Cyborg said, getting louder, "This girl could be in real danger because she can't fight, and you want to be responsible for that?"

"No," Robin said simply, "But we helped her as much as we could, can't you just leave it at that?"

"No, because we could do so much more to help her," Cyborg pointed out, "We're the Teen Titans, aren't we _supposed_ to help people?"

"Yes, but only if they'll take it," Robin said, "She doesn't want our help, so just leave her alone."

"She may not want it, but I know she needs it, whether she knows it or not," Cyborg said.

"A little help here," they both heard from behind them. They turned around to see Beast Boy supporting Laura, who had passed out once again. Cyborg rushed over to help him out.

"What happened?" Cyborg asked, holding the limp girl up.

"Well when I went to talk to her she was already unconscious," Beast Boy explained, "After she woke up, I convinced her to at least let Cyborg make sure she's ok. She passed out again on the way here."

"Well we had better get her back to the infirmary, her concussion must have been worse than we thought," Cyborg said ignoring Robin's complaints behind him. After they got there, and had put Laura in a bed, Cyborg finally listened to what Robin was saying.

"I told you I don't want her staying here," he said.

"Relax, it's only until she wakes up," Cyborg told him, hooking tubes up to Laura like he had last time.

"That's what you told me last time," Robin said, "And here she is again."

"Well obviously she wasn't..." Cyborg stopped in the middle of his sentence.

"What is it?" Robin asked him walking up behind him. When he looked at Laura's lower back his jaw dropped. "Go get Raven, Beast Boy," he said simply.

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"So why does she have it on her back?" Robin asked as Raven stared at her back in amazement.

"She must be a member of the Order of Scath," she said simply regaining her composure.

"I knew something was weird about her," Robin said.

"She must have recognized you friend Raven," Starfire added.

"I bet that's why she didn't want to stay here," Beast Boy said.

"I doubt so," Raven told them, "She may know who I am, but she wouldn't have been scared of me."

"Well once she wakes up she can leave," Cyborg said, stopping as he saw the girl move. Moments later they watched her wake up.

"Well isn't this all familiar," she commented as she saw the Titans gathered around her, "You guys sure seem like a happy bunch today," she smiled sarcastically.

"We know you're secret," Cyborg said seriously, crossing his arms.

"Oh dear, not my secret, anything but my secret!" Laura screamed sarcastically.

"Stop it," Robin yelled, "We know you're a member of the Order of Scath."

"The order of who?" she asked getting serious.

"Don't play dumb," Raven ordered heatedly, "We saw the mark on your back." But the minute Raven had mentioned the mark on her back, she had stopped listening.

"You know what that is?" she asked in awe, interrupting what Raven was saying.

"Of course we do," Beast Boy said.

"And I'm going to ask you one more time," Robin demanded, "Who... are...you?" He said it slowly, demanding an answer from her. Laura rolled her eyes at him before she answered.

"If it will shut you up," she started, "My name is Laura, that's all you need to know, that's all you're going to know." Her attention then turned back to Raven, "If you know what the mark on my back is, then maybe you know what this is," she hesitated before pulling out her mother's ring that sat on the chain. All of the Titans eyes slightly widened at the sight of the ring.

"How did you get a ring of Azare?" Raven asked looking at the ring the girl had pulled out in her hands.

"So you know what this is too," she took back the ring, "Maybe you'll know why my mother owned it."

"I don't know," Raven stated truthfully, "She must have been a member of the order."

"Of Scath?" Laura asked, confused.

"No, Azare," Raven corrected.

"This is so confusing," Laura put her hand to her head.

"Raven, I need to talk to you," Robin said, as he and Raven left the room. When they were outside of the room Robin started questioning her.

"Why does she have the Mark of Scath on her back?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," Raven said, "If she really doesn't know what it is, here's no way she chose to be a member of the Order."

"So..." Robin pressed for her to go on.

"Usually you don't become a member unless you chose to," Raven stopped for a second, "Unless, one of her parent's was a member. Then they could have made her a member themselves."

"So she might not have wanted to be a member," Robin concluded.

"Right," Raven said, "But what throws me off, is why she has a Ring of Azare."

"She said that it belongs to her mother," Robin reminded her.

"So it must be her father that was a member of the Order of Scath," Raven said, "In any case, I need that ring from her. Even if she doesn't know it, someone who belongs to the Order of Scath can do serious damage with a Ring of Azare. She may not even realize she's doing it."

"Then we need to gain her trust," he said, "She'll have to stay here."

"But she doesn't want to stay here," Raven pointed out.

"But I feel she'll change her mind now that she knows you know everything about these strange thing in her life," Robin told her, "She'll want you to tell her more about these things."

"I'm not sure that's exactly safe," Raven said, "I can't just pour out all of the secrets of both of the Order's if she doesn't know anything about them."

"You're right," Robin said, "I'm sure whatever she's going to do with that ring is nowhere near as bad as pouring some secrets."

"Fine," Raven caved in, "I'll tell her what she wants to know." She stopped, "But you have to get the ring from her."

"Fine, as long as you keep her here," Robin agreed.

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"I finally find someone who knows what this thing is, and bird boy is going to make me leave," Laura said to herself, looking at the ring, forgetting the Titans were there, "Typical."

"He just wants our team to be safe," Cyborg assured her, "I'm sure he'll let you at least talk to Raven about it."

"I don't even know him and I know that's not going to happen," she said, "You're friend isn't exactly hard to read."

"He is just looking out for our best interest," Starfire told her, "He wishes only to see us safe."

"So he'll just throw me out into the city then?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Ok, so he may not always think rationally," Beast Boy said, "But who said you were a villain? Are you one?"

"No I'm-" she was cut off as Robin and Raven re-entered the room.

"You can stay," he said simply as he and Raven walked over to Laura.

"Oh thank gracious one, I'm humbled to know that I have you're approval to stay here," she laughed softly at him.

"I thought you wanted to stay here," Beast Boy said, confused.

"Fine, I did," she caved, "But only until I find out more about these two 'Order's' you were talking about."

"I'll tell you anything you want to know," Raven said reluctantly.

"Whatever then," she said, "But I'm not going to stay for long. I don't need your help."

"Whatever you say," Robin assured her.

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**A/N: There we go, a wee bit short, but when you have a good place to stop you have to stop, says me. Sorry I didn't update, but school has just stated, coughhigh schoolcough, yes my freshman year, I'm very excited thank you for asking, but enough about me, I hope you're enjoying the story, that would make me happy. Please review, I beg of you, it builds up my self esteem so I can push forward with the next chapter. **


	5. The Fourth Chapter

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans; I never have and never will, (or will I?? I really don't know, you'll just have to wait and find out, but whatever,) so you can just get over it and get on with your lives.**

**A/N: You people have no idea how sorry I am. I really have a good reason for taking months to update. It started with school, to many reports, but when I finally got a chance to update my story, literally it was the same day I was going to write this chapter, I find out hat or computer was dead. A month later (seriously my mom took that long,) my mom bought an Apple computer. So I was like yes, I can update, but now we still don't have any program for me to write in so I've sunk to sneaking on my brother's laptop to write the chapter, hopefully he will install some program for y to write in soon, so I can move much faster than this. So please forgive, I really am very sorry, and will beg for your forgiveness.**

**Chapter Four**

"I can't believe it," Laura said sitting on the bed she had adopted in the infirmary, "All of that happened because of one little club?"

"It's not exactly a club," Raven corrected her, "But yeah, all of that is really true."

"So why don't I remember it," Laura asked her, "You'd think someone would remember the end of the world."

"Well you were probably frozen like the rest of the world, and even if you weren't, you're memory would have been erased," Raven explained.

"So can you explain why I'm even in this Order of Scath?" Laura asked for the hundredth time now.

"One of your parents was a member," she explained, on the outside she was patient, even though on the inside she wanted to rip Laura's hair out, "Anyone could have inducted you if they were."

"But why would they have wanted me to be a member?" Laura asked, "Its not like my parents could have had someone induct me."

"Why couldn't they?" Raven asked curiously.

"They were killed by a house fire when I was just a baby," she explained, "I never knew them."

"I'm so sorry," Raven said feeling sorry she had asked.

"Don't be," Laura told her, "It wasn't your fault, if anything it was probably my fault."

"What are you talking about?" Raven quickly questioned her.

"Forget it, its nothing," Laura quickly said, "So why do you think they would want me as a member?" she asked again, changing the subject.

"Well if you hadn't noticed, you're powers are pretty amazing," Raven said, "And if you're a member, it would only enhance those powers. If you weren't a member, there's no way you would be this strong."

"So you're saying that I could have powers I don't even know about?" Laura asked, confused.

"It's possible," Raven said, "Who knows, you might not even have your powers if you weren't a member."

"I don't know about that," she said, "I did survive a fire when I was a baby without a burn on me."

"Whatever it did for you becoming a member wasn't a good thing, I don't want you to think that it was," Raven explained carefully.

"I understand," Laura said, "After what I heard about it, I would never think it was a good thing."

"Good," Raven said getting up, "I'm going to go, it's getting late and I usually have to get up very early to get any quiet in this place." She then left Laura alone in the room only to think about the conversation they had just had.

_You don't belong here. _Laura heard in the head, _you never will. They know that, and you know that. You destroy remember? You can only destroy._

"No," she whispered, "I can't be that, I won't."

_Oh but you will, it's inevitable, not even the Titans can stop destiny. They may be able to stall it, but no force on earth can stop you from becoming what you know you will, a bloodthirsty, murderous criminal. They may trust you now, but soon they'll be hunting you._

"No," she yelled, maybe a little too loud, "Shut up! I won't let that happen!" She pressed her hands to her head, trying in a vain attempt to drown out the voice that spoke in her head. It had been there for years, taunting her, breaking her down to near nothing. She knew who it was; she just didn't understand why he was in her head. She wasn't sure if she was crazy, paranoid, or maybe she had just had to live on the run too long, but somehow, there was something in her that wanted her to join him, to give in.

"Just leave me alone," she whispered, on the verge of breaking down into tears at this point.

_Now don't cry child, I'm not trying to upset you. _The voice laughed a deep laugh, mocking her.

"I don't cry," she hissed angrily, "Not for anyone."

_We both know that's not true, and you need to learn that even you are human, and therefore are imperfect. You never will be perfect either, no matter what you do._

"I don need to be perfect," she said getting up, "I'm doing a fine job avoiding you just the way I am."

Laura crept quietly down the hall on her way to the training room, trying not to wake the Titans. Robin had showed it to her earlier, but she hadn't gotten a chance to use it since there always seemed t be a Titans somewhere near her, and she liked to workout alone. It was just how she was used to training. She put in the code Robin had given her reluctantly since she wasn't in the database for the DNA scanner, and didn't plan on staying long enough so that she would be. As soon as she got what she wanted she planned to get as far away from this town as possible. But even if she didn't want to be here, having a real home to live in, a real bed to sleep in, and warm food to eat was pretty great.

The door swung open and her eyes lit up in awe as she saw the countless machines and weights for her to use. For the girl who was se to using a pile of cardboard boxes as a punching bag, this was like heaven. She looked between the weight machines, treadmills, and punching bags wondering where she could possibly start. Knowing that if she didn't do something soon she would go into shock from anticipation she ran over to the nearest piece of equipment, which happened to be the punching bag, and started going lose on it.

Having a madman after you, trying to capture you, or at least attack you everyday, not knowing what he wanted from you, or how long it would be before he got to you is stress enough. Living in some old warehouse with no real home or anything to do all day was the perfect reason to workout almost any spare second you had. Laura had travel around most of the world training with the best she could find to teach her to use martial arts in perfect sync with her powers. She spent almost all of her money on this trip, which was why she wads currently considered homeless. In her opinion though, it was worth it. Not only did she learn how to control her powers and gain the ability to avoid Slade and his robots, but also if she were currently living in a real home, Slade would have a much easier time finding her.

Training and fighting were both ways for her to let go and feel free. She tried to train as much as possible, and going a long time without training made her feel weak and vulnerable.

With every jab at the punching bag she felt a piece of anger leave her. They always seemed to leave in a specific order; one punch, her biological parents left, a second, the doctors, a third her foster father, the fourth her foster mother, the fifth was Slade, and she always ended with her last punch in the pattern with her. Parents, doctors, father, mother, Slade, herself, parents, doctors, father, mother, Slade, herself, she continued the pattern mentally letting go of each of them for the entire time she continued the exercise. When she was finished with it, all the anger would return, but even letting go of it for a short time was bliss for her.

She spun around quickly as she faintly heard the sound of the door opening. Just as she had turned around she saw Robin starring back at her, the two of them in silence for what seemed like hours even though she knew it was only seconds.

"What are you doing up this late?" she asked sarcastically, "Isn't past your bed-time?" she snorted softly, turning back to the punching bag.

"I could ask you the same thing," he replied very seriously, walking over to a weight machine, "Do you always workout at three in the morning?"

"Do you?" she asked back, not expecting an answer, "I just figured that most of you would be asleep by this time like everyone else on the planet, I like to workout in peace."

"Well that's one thing we have in common," he said not even looking at her, "Between the other four people in this house, I get about five minutes of silence a day." For about the next half an hour the two worked out, completely ignoring each other.

"You know, we don't have to ignore each other," Laura said breaking the second silence, "As long we're here together we could at least speak, even if you don't trust me."

"If I didn't trust you, why would I let you live in my home?" he asked.

"I really don't know," Laura said, her back still turned to Robin, "From what I've learned about you, you're full of contradictions."

"Well if we are going to speak to each other, we could help each other workout," he caved turning around, "From what I saw when we met you, you're a pretty good fighter."

"Sure, I haven't fought against anything other than a robot in years," she admitted, "It could help me a lot." So the two moved to the empty part of the gym, devoted specifically to combat practice. Out of courtesy Laura didn't use her powers, and the two began to fight hand to hand. Laura quickly jabbed at Robin's left side, pushing him back about a foot.

"So, who did you train with?" Robin asked as he retaliated sending a high kick to her shoulder, having it blocked. She then got behind him and grabbed his arms and pulled him down to the floor. He quickly jumped to his feet behind her, twisting her arms behind her, catching her. She was able to free her hands, and grabbed his wrists, flinging him over her head.

"How'd you know I was trained?" she asked, seizing his shoulders and trying to knee him in the stomach, but having him jump back before she could.

"Nobody is that good unless somebody has trained them," he replied knocking her feet out from underneath her. He jumped into the air, about to come down and hit her when she quickly rolled out of the way. She hopped to her feet stabbing him directly in the chest, knocking him to the floor.

"I've trained with lots of people," she said as he surprised her by sliding behind her, kicking her once again to the floor. This time, keeping her down by putting his foot on her stomach.

"And I see you've been training with the True Master," she said out of breathe, as was he.

"So have you," he said helping her up, "Well, whoever you've trained with, they're good."

"Thank you, I guess," she said, "You're good too." She suddenly twisted his arm and flung him to the ground, "But you're too predictable."

**A/N: Hey it's me. I hope you liked it, I know it's short, I think, with this new computer I can't really tell, but I think it's good. I really don't mind the shortness; I just like getting the story across, and if it needs to be short, so let it be. Please review!!! All reviews are welcome, except flames with no point; that I hate.**


	6. The Fifth Chapter

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, that's what you wanted to hear!! (Points giant finger)**

**A/N: Hey party people!!! I know what you're thinking…. WHAT (gasp) SHE REALLY IS BACK!!!!!! And yes, I am back, yay!!!! We're going to have so much fun, I promise not to leave you hanging like that again, and if it's an emergency, I will force myself to find a working computer, I swear. You will see the end of this story, I'll make sure of it. From here on out, I'm crusading for you, all for you!!!!!!!!**

**Chapter Five**

He didn't understand it, he didn't trust her at all, because he didn't know her at all, but he still wanted to know her. He hated her, but he didn't want her to leave just yet. He wasn't sure how he was going to keep her here long enough to get that ring from her, he wasn't even sure how he was going to do it. She already looked like she was getting ready to leave; but it seemed like something, and he didn't know what it could be, was keeping her from leaving. He didn't know what it was, but whatever it was, he and raven still needed to work fast. According to Raven that ring in the hands of a member of the Order of Scath was bad. Any member of the Order could be tricked into doing something they didn't want easily, so with that ring, it could be given to anyone, which of course was very bad.

She was a great fighter. Whoever it was she had trained with, they were good. He knew she had trained with the True Master, but she had said she trained with many people. How had she gotten the money though? If she was living in an old warehouse obviously she had no money. But that was just it he knew nothing about her. He hated having her in his home, even if it was to basically save the world.

When he was fighting her though, she put up the best fight he had had since the last time he had fought…. Slade. That was the problem he had with her, she was so much like him. How did he know that they weren't playing right into Slade's trap? It all could have been set up. The fight between her and those robots, she could have known the bomb was planted in those robots, and they could have know, or made, Beast Boy was following her. She could know everything about the Order of Scath, and that ring? Slade had one at the end of the world, who said he didn't have another? If she really was working with Slade, how could he find out?

The truth was, there was no way for him to find out. If he really did want to find out, it would take a lot, a lot of time, energy and strength, all of which he had to focus on getting that ring.

"Robin?" Raven walked into the evidence room where Robin had been for most of the morning, "we need to talk, it's about Laura."

"Who else would we be talking about?" Robin asked bitterly, almost angrily, "ever since she's showed up we haven't been able to do anything without thinking about her. Training, we can't try to do anything new. We constantly have to watch her, make sure she's not trying anything. It's getting exhausting."

"Robin you have to listen," Raven told him softly, "Laura's gone."

"What?" Robin stopped everything he was doing, "I knew it! She just couldn't be trusted; she's probably already spilling out everything she's learned from us. When did she leave?"

"It must have been while we were sleeping, no ones seen her all day," Raven spoke in a calm voice, not seeming to be worried at all.

"We'll have to search the city, I don't trust her alone," he said getting up and walking towards the door. Raven got in his way, blocking his exit.

"You're over-reacting," she said, "We have no proof that she's doing anything wrong, it's not like she's a criminal."

"I just don't trust her out there alone, we don't know anything about her," he said pushing past Raven, "And when were you going to tell me she was missing?" He looked at the rest of the Titans, expecting an answer.

"Well, you know, you were so wrapped up in your own business, we didn't want to bother you," Cyborg smirked.

"This isn't funny," Robin said, "I want all of you to spread out and search the city, I want to know where she is."

"Dude chill out," Beast Boy said, "I'm sure she'll…."

"Now," Robin commanded them. The titans left the room to go out into the city, no questioning Robin, just wanting to get away from him for the day.

**(In the City)**

He didn't get it; she confused him to no ends. Why would she just leave like hat? Did she have something to hide? Why couldn't he stop thinking about her? He wasn't worried about his friends or anything he should be, well he was, but he wasn't thinking about that stuff. All he could think about was her, why would she do this (?) what was she trying to do? He kept asking these questions instead of the ones he felt he should be asking. If she were working with Slade, what would happen to the Titans? Could they deal with another Terra? True she wasn't really a Terra, she truly didn't want to be at the Tower, and he believed that. She didn't know Slade, according to what she said, and Raven really wasn't worried about her the way she had been when Terra was around.

But there was something about her he didn't get. She was such a great fighter, but he could tell she was having a fight she couldn't handle. Maybe not a real fight, she showed them that she could handle that. But there was something inside of her that she was having trouble with. He could tell she was a very complicated person. Then again, a huge portion of the people he knew were complicated, but something was different about her. Like her life was a giant ball of string, easy to break, almost impossible to untangle.

He sighed, which was almost like a growl, and opened his communicator, calling the other Titans, "Any sight of her?"

"Naw man," Cyborg answered dryly, "It's like she skipped town."

"Well keep looking," Robin answered, "All of you." He didn't understand why he was so worried about this. Maybe she wasn't with Slade; she could be anywhere, just like the others were telling him.

Why was he even looking in the town? If she had to sneak out of the Tower before anyone was even up, obviously she wouldn't be walking around in public. People who have something to find leave in the middle of the night, not people who just want to take a casual stroll. Robin stopped by a park to take a break. He still didn't see any point in looking when he didn't think she would be anywhere in sight. He knew he couldn't go looking for Slade when he wasn't sure that was where she was. To face the truth she could be anywhere.

Raven flew over town, not really worried about Laura at all. If there was something she hadn't been telling the Titans, the two girl's hours spent talking would have given her plenty of time to figure it out. That was just Robin though, always so over-suspicious. He never trusted anyone, but look who had trained him.

She knew that the other three Titans couldn't be wasting their time actually looking for Laura, she sure wasn't. The only reason any of them agreed to waste their time searching was to please Robin, plus if he was out in the town, he wasn't at the Tower worrying over something so small and unimportant. If Laura wanted to get out of the Tower let her go, it's not like they could control her. She wasn't a criminal, it's not like she was a prisoner in the Tower, she was a guest, and she had the ability to leave at any time. She just chose to leave in the middle of the night. The only thing Raven was worried about was that ring of Azare. The Order of Scath and the Order of Azare were two completely opposite groups, one of dark, the other light. If Laura were actually a member of both of the Orders, she would be pulled in both directions at the same time. She would feel the need to be evil and good. Raven feared only that Laura wouldn't have the strength to keep the Order of Scath from overpowering the Order of Azare.

Raven knew what it was like to be pulled between the two. All of her life she had to fight to keep on one side o the line, and she knew that Laura would have to go through the same ordeal. She knew that the girl would be much better off not belonging to either of the Orders, but at this point Laura didn't have a choice. Ever since she was given that ring, and brought into the Order of Scath she was without that choice. She was doomed since she was a baby.

"Any sight of her?" Robin checking in on the not even trying Titans broke Raven's train of thought.

"Naw man," Cyborg answered dryly, feeling the same loathing for their leader as the rest of them did, "It's like she skipped town." They didn't hate Robin; they were just annoyed by him at this point. He was always obsessing over the stupidest things, and dragging his team into it with him.

"Well keep looking," he commanded his team leaving them to return to whatever they happened to be doing instead of searching for Laura.

Raven stopped by a coffee house and went in. Laura could have gone there, it's not like Robin was tracking where they were going and Raven didn't have to answer to him, none of them did. The only reason they agreed to this was to get him off of their backs for a couple of hours. For the week that Laura had been at the Tower, all Robin could talk about was her and Slade. Slade hadn't even done anything since they first meet Laura; and that was the only connection they had between Laura and Slade at this point, Robin needed to relax.

She didn't understand why Robin worried so much over Laura. Was she not a good friend? Robin certainly had told Starfire about what a great fighter she was, and if she weren't already working with Slade, she would make a great Titan. Of course it would take awhile for him to trust her, all of the Titans knew that. He barely trusted himself these days.

"Any sight of her?"…….

Robin sat on a bench in the park, trying to figure out what to do. He could just forget about Laura and wait for things to play out, or he could waste his day searching the city he knew she could be in. he decided to just forget about it and picked up his communicator, telling the Titans to meet him back at the Tower, there was no point in searching anymore.

**(Back at the Tower)**

Robin walked into the Tower expecting to see his friends, but almost knocking into Laura upon stepping through the door. As he gained his balance the other Titans stepped into the Tower.

"What are you doing here?" he asked bitterly.

"You guys did invite me to stay here last week, remember?" Laura asked stepping back. The Titans stared at her for a while; she looked like a different person. In the six hours that she had been missing, she had been busy. Her hair had been chopped off, by herself it appeared, and her clothes had been changed. She now wore a black tank top and red capris with black sneakers. Her now much shorter hair had been pulled into a ponytail, and the ends flared out like a spiky fan at the ends. They also noticed that she had a stripe of red in her bangs.

"Where were you today?" Raven asked calmly. All of the Titans seemed calm, except Robin who still wanted to attack her upon sight. Maybe they were just in shock at the completely different girl who stood before them.

"I had a lot to do," she barely explained, "Since Cyborg lent me a spare room, I decided my stuff was better off here than in some damp warehouse. Plus I've been looking for a job. I may have powers, but being a superhero isn't really my thing." She shrugged, not even looking at Robin, who was furious at this point.

"What's with the new look?" Beast Boy asked rudely.

"Just new clothes," she basically blew off the question.

"And hair," Cyborg noted, "It's red."

"I'm always having to change my look," she explained, "Since Slade is always looking for me I decided to keep changing my appearance." She brushed back a stray piece of red hair from her face, "Not that it helps, and really it's become more of a routine. Sometimes it does keep him off for a couple of days."

"Do you really expect us to believe that?" Robin snapped glaring at her. Laura took a step back, looking at Robin, who was starting to worry everyone.

"I have a form from the coffee house where I interviewed," she held up the piece of paper as proof.

"But why did you leave so early?" Starfire asked, the other Titans ignoring Robin's interrogation of their guest.

"I left at like seven, but you guys wouldn't wake up," she explained, "I left a note in the kitchen." The Titans looked over to where she pointed, and sure enough sitting on the counter was a small piece of paper with a note scribbled on it. "I didn't know it was this big of a deal, next time I'll check with the warden," she said sarcastically, referring to Robin who looked like he wanted to gauge her eyes out at this point.

"It's fine," Raven assured her, getting between her and Robin to break up any possible fight, "We were just worried."

"Well I'm just glad that you _all_ care so much," Laura smirked and looked at Robin, shaking her head.

**A/N: Well there it is, I know the look change in sudden and pointless, but I just did a picture that I loved, and was getting tired of the old Tomb Raider look on Laura. On another note we've broken the two thousand-word barrier. Well technically we've hit it before, but what ever. Please review.**


	7. The Sixth Chapter

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. I do however own many other nice things, which you can't touch, like my characters, which I work hard to come up with, so as I said, hands off. **

**A/N: I know that the words in the story like, "At the Tower" look dumb, but their the only way I can separate paragraphs since I can't put in lines anymore. We're not even going to bother with much an authors note. But I do want to thank all of my reviewers, young and old, cute and ugly, thank you for caring about me enough to give your feedback.**

**Chapter Six**

"So Boy Wonder, what's on your agenda today?" Laura asked Robin as he sat down to breakfast, since the 'fight' she and him had they weren't exactly on best terms, "I for one plan on robbing a bank, so I would like to know when you're going to be busy."

"Be quiet," he said simply, preparing himself a bowl of cereal. For some reason, Laura was still in the tower. True she had only been there for two weeks, but with her and Robin fighting, to the other Titans, it felt like two years.

"What's wrong?" she asked almost sounding sincere, "Bird Boy cranky without his birdseed."

"How long do you two plan on continuing this?" Cyborg asked, "Because it's getting really hard to get anything done with you to breaking the sound barrier every other second."

"I'm just giving Robin here a head's up," Laura said getting up and putting her dishes away, "I just want to gain his trust." She half laughed half snorted, "Just so you know Robin, I'm just going to work, I won't be trading away your lives while I'm out." She grabbed a black trench coat as she walked out of the Tower, getting on the red motorcycle she apparently had in the makeshift home many would call a warehouse. No one really got how she had all of this stuff, but couldn't afford a home, but they decided not to press her on the matter.

"I can't stand her," Robin said eating his breakfast.

"Why do you put up with it then?" Cyborg asked, "It's not like you can't at least try to get along."

"Yeah, even I wouldn't be able to put up with this," Beast Boy said.

"Look, I just don't want to drive her out," Robin said getting up to put his bowl away.

"We know you want to make her a Titan eventually, she'd be great on the team, but you two are driving us nuts," Cyborg explained to him before he left the room. As the door closed behind him, Robin considered telling them why he really couldn't let her leave. He shook the thought as he remembered what Raven had told him, that if any of the Titans knew what they were doing, they would only get in the way. She was right he knew they would. It's not that they meant to, he knew they meant well and wanted to help, but this was a project best left between Raven and him.

**With Laura**

She was late. She ran into the coffee house ignoring her boss telling her that being late was not blah blah blah, and rushed to the back to get in her uniform. As her boss stood over her telling he once again that being late on her first few weeks on the job does not make a good impression, and how he could fire her if he didn't think she could be a good employee and how she just has to leave a few minutes earlier. She tuned him out as she went immediately to clearing tables as she has done every other day on the job. Eventually he left to go help some customers and she was able to do her work in peace.

After clearing as many tables as she could, she took the cart of dishes to the back, not paying attention to what she was doing; a partially filled cup fell from the top of the cart, right above a customer. Without hesitation she grabbed for the cup, catching it but not the liquid that was inside of it, which just barely missed the woman who had pushed herself out of the way. The entire shop looked at Laura and her amazing speed, shocked that she had been able to catch the falling cup. She rushed to the back room to escape the gawking eyes and to avoid her boss having another fit about watching what she was doing. She knew she was fast, she had great reflexes, and it came from three years of both karate and gymnastics taken at the same time. She grabbed a rag and went to clean up the spill, but saw that it had already been taken care of by another employee, Tim she remembered.

She continued to do her job for the rest of the day, trying her best to stay as discreet as possible and avoiding her raging boss at all costs. She already hated this job, and she wasn't in paradise at the Tower, but she had to stay with both, being able to find a full time job was a miracle, and the only way to keep it was if she had a real address, and a warehouse wasn't a really address so she was stuck here for awhile. When she got off at five, Tim, who had gotten off at one, met her at the door.

"Want a cup of coffee?" he asked smiling, he was sort of nerdy, but still handsome. He had short curly dark hair and thick-rimmed glasses, but he was easily able to pull both of them off.

"Actually I should be getting home," Laura said walking around to the back, followed by Tim.

"You mean Titans' tower?" he asked looking at her, he continued to explain as he saw the questioning look on her face, "I saw a glimpse of your résumé, the Titans have a very unique address."

"Maybe you'll get to see it one day," she said putting on her helmet and driving away. Tim watched her as she turned a corner, smiling.

**Back at the Tower**

"Where have you been all day?" Robin asked Laura as she entered the main room, getting an agitated sigh from Laura. She put down her helmet and sat on the couch breathing a sigh of relief.

"I've been working all day," she explained, "I took a full time job to get some money. Unlike you, don't plan on making superhero-ing my life's work." After taking a couple of minutes to relax she got up and went to her room. When in her room she collapsed down on her bed, closing her eyes. Since she was around fourteen, she had been on her own. After that she hid so that she wouldn't be placed in another foster home, and decided to travel the world with the money her parents left her. After she was on her own, she had gained access to her trust fund, left by her biological parents. Apparently her father managed a very big business in the city, and therefore had lots of money. After her little trip, she had nothing left, nothing she could spend anyway. She was almost seventeen, and in a year she would be a legal adult, not needing to hide anymore.

She couldn't believe she had gotten a job. The only reason she hadn't gotten one before was because she was hiding. Now that she was with the Titans she didn't need to hide, since she had them to look after her, and she could finally start saving money so that she could live on her own in a year. The thing that made her upset was that she had to stay here for a year.

Laura wearily looked at the clock seeing that it was about 5:40. She closed her eyes once again curling up in a ball.

"_Laura, must you take karate?" a woman said walking her daughter into a large brown building, "Wouldn't you much rather take something more feminine, like gymnastics."_

"_Mom I told you that me and Damien are taking karate together," the ten year old said walking with her mother._

"_But isn't Chelsea taking ballet?" she asked, "You could take ballet together."_

"_I don't even like ballet, and Chelsea's being pathetic," the girl said, "She won't give me five inches of space."_

"_Well maybe she just needs to spend some more quality time with just you," the woman tried, "You and Damien are always together."_

"_I don't want to spend more time with her, I'm beginning to think that if we spent and more time together, she would attack herself to my hip and call herself my twin"_

"_Look honey we can sign up for gymnastics right here," she said ignoring her daughter's complaints she signed her up for the class._

"_Mom!" Laura screamed, "I'm taking karate!"_

"_Well fine," her mother gave up, "But look, karate is right after gymnastics ends, you can take both right here." Seeing that her mother was not going to give up on this, she agreed to take the class._

"_I can't believe your mother is that pushy," a young boy said sitting in Laura back yard, "She never does give up on these things."_

"_I know," she said lying down to look at the sky, "I kept telling her that we were going to take karate together, but she didn't care."_

"_I can't believe your not going to take ballet with me!" a girl said looking at Laura, "Why did she sign you up for gymnastics anyway? If she wanted you to be more girly, ballet would have been better."_

"_Well at least you can still take karate," Damien said ignoring the comment just made by Chelsea._

"_Yeah after arguing with her for about an hour," Laura said watching the clouds go by, "She just doesn't get that I don't like to do those kinds of girly things."_

"_How about a game of basketball?" Damien asked getting off of the ball he had been sitting on while they had been talking._

"_Your on," Laura said running to the basketball hoop in the driveway._

"_What am I supposed to do?" Chelsea asked not getting up from the grass. Laura looked back at her friend, knowing nothing in the world would get her to play any sport that seemed to masculine to her. Basically any sport that ended in ball she wouldn't play._

"_How about you keep score," she suggested, Chelsea reluctantly got up and made a scoreboard on the driveway with a piece of chalk._

"_So what's going on with those doctors?" Damien asked taking the ball from Laura and sinking it in the hoop._

"_My mom said something about suing them," she said catching the ball, "After what she saw what their 'tests' were doing to me she got angry." The two stopped playing as they caught sight of Chelsea who had decorated the scoreboard with tons of chalk flowers and hearts._

"_What?" she asked looking up from what she was doing. The two shook their heads and continued their game and conversation._

"_What were they doing to you?" he asked blocking a shot made by her._

"_It's hard to explain," she said putting another shot up, sinking it easily, "Basically they didn't even care about helping me get better, they just wanted to use me as their guinea pig."_

"_Wow, how did your mom find out?" he asked._

"_She just walked into the room when they were experimenting," Laura blocked a shot made by Damien._

"_Foul," he said going to the painted on free throw line, "how angry was she?"_

"_Well we were out of there in about five seconds," Laura said as Damien sunk his first shot._

"_Is she going to take you to another doctor?" he asked missing his second shot._

"_I don't know, she said we'd have to talk about it," Laura said getting the ball, "I don't think I want to go through with that again."_

"_I'm not wasting my money on another doctor!" Laura's father yelled drunkenly from the living room. _

"_Be quiet, Laura's going to here you," her mother said harshly as she tried to quiet her husband._

"_And don't think I'm paying for a lawyer," he yelled again, ignoring his wife. The argument continued as Laura stopped listening, trying to drown them out. As a small episode came she suppressed her screams, not wanting them to hear her. It was this that was driving them apart, this disease, she hated it; all of their fights seemed to be her fault. Something she did, or something that she caused, things would have been better for them if they never took her in._

"_I'll be back later," Laura heard her father say and soon after she heard the door slam. She got up and went to her window seeing him drive away. She knew where he was going, he always went to the bar after he and her mother had a fight. Laura hurried back to her bed, fighting back tears as her mother silently checked on her._

Laura woke up and looked at her clock, it was two in the morning. She tried to sit up but felt physically and emotionally exhausted from her previous dream. She had been sleeping for nine hours and knew Robin would be in the training room right now, waiting for her. Even though they couldn't stand each other, every night they trained together. It helped both of them. She knew that it was these late nights that were throwing off her sleep, but she didn't care. She was able to fit work into the time she was awake. She should go and meet him, but right now she was too weak to fight tonight. So she lay in her bed, knowing she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep.

She missed Damien, soon after that day his family moved out of the city, leaving her alone in her class, her neighborhood, and basically in life. She rolled over on her side and brought her knees to her chest, curling in a ball.

**A/N: There it is Chapter Six, I really don't have much to say except you better review, or I might just cry. And then I won't be able to right, at least not for a few days, which would make you all very sad, I hope. So please review.**


	8. The Seventh Chapter

**Disclaimer: I expect you to realize this by now, but I will say it again, I don't own Teen Titans. Again, if I did, this would not be wasted here on this website. And also again, Laura her parents, both biological and foster, are mine.**

**A/N: You all make me sad, I type my fingers to the bone to put up these chapters for you, and I don't get one thank you, or good job. In fact I've made this speech before, different but similar. You as writers yourselves should know how important it is to get reviews. But my little tantrum is over, on with my review-impaired story. But first we're going answer any questions I received. 1. As you saw, Laura does like to poke at the broken bonds, I have no idea what that means, but she likes to poke at Robin. 2. I cannot tell you who the couple are, that would ruin the great surprise, but it will be good trust you me. #. Laura and Raven may be friends; it depends on how I feel, because even though the plot is already planned out, since I've been working a long time on this story, I like to come up with leetle twists as the chapters roll on by.**

**Chapter Seven**

"What happened to you?" Robin asked to Laura as he sat down to breakfast. She knew he was referring to last night, and her absence in the Training Room knowing he didn't want to other Titans to know about their training at night. To tell the truth, she didn't either. That was something, actually the only thing that really kept them from killing each other. It was a way to let their rage towards each other, a way of teaching each other. Really it was only helping them, ever since they had started fighting each other they were in the Training Room every night. Since then they were much calmer around each other, even if the Titans didn't realize it.

"I was tired," she said simply, looking down at her now soggy cereal, "Couldn't get out of bed."

"Hmm," Robin ended the conversation as the other Titans began to file in. It wasn't that he didn't want them to see the two getting along, he just wasn't sure if they were getting along. Besides as soon as they walked into, Laura got up and put her bowl away and walked out the door to go to work.

"She left in a hurry," Cyborg commented as he sat down.

"Yeah," Robin said to himself, "Kind of weird." He could tell something was going on with her, something not quite right, and he knew she wasn't going to admit what it was willingly. She was too much like him to do that. He also knew that he needed to find out what it was that was wrong with her.

**With Laura**

"You're early," Laura's boss said seeing her walk in five minutes before her shift started, ten minutes earlier than she normally came in.

"So you'd rather me be late?" she asked putting on an apron. She looked at him as she tied it, waiting for an answer.

"No, it's just a shock to see you here," he was almost ready to fire her, but maybe he could give her a second chance. Just as she was about to go start clearing tables her boss stopped her, "Julie's sick today, you're working register." She already knew how to work it, she had been taught how to work most of the stuff around this place on her first day, and so she didn't care really what she did.

"Ok then," she said as she started walking behind the counter. The rest of her shift went fairly smooth, nothing she screwed up, and she almost believed she was going to have a peaceful day, until about 1:00 came by.

"Here's your change," Laura said smiling as she handed $1.53 to the woman in front of her. The woman thanked her and walked off with her order in hand. A few minutes later, as Laura was looking down at the register to organize the bills and change in their slots, she heard the bell ring on the door as another customer walked in. She didn't really pay much attention to it; it wasn't something important; she only looked up from what she was doing when she heard scared gasps and moving chairs and feet wanting to get out of the café. She fell to the ground as she looked and saw exactly who walked in.

"S-Slade," she barely got out as he walked up to the counter. It was obvious that she was terrified beyond belief.

"Why Laura, so good to see you," he said smoothly and smiled, "Do you plan on serving me?" She knew that had more than one meaning, and she slowly pulled herself to her feet, stepping back from the counter. She tried to put as much space between her and Slade as she could.

"I don't plan on serving you ever," she said slowly regaining her confidence. By this time all of the customers had cleared out and only a few of the citizens gathered around the window that looked in on the café with curiosity. The employees had mostly gathered in the back room, leaving a few staying backed against the wall watching out for Laura who oddly to them, wouldn't run.

"Well then I don't think you're doing what you're supposed to," it seemed as if they had already known each other, no one could understand it.

"Get out of here," they watched in shock as Laura lit her hands in flame, taken aback. Why hadn't she told them she had powers, this was all so weird.

"Now, now Laura," Slade said almost trying to calm her, "You couldn't beat me last time, what makes this so different." Ate that Laura looked defeated, and let the flames in her hands die. She knew he was right, there was no way she could beat him, why make it any harder for the both of them.

"I just alerted the Titans," Tim said, he looked at Laura, "Why isn't she even trying? She looked ready to kill a minute ago."

"We don't know," another employee whispered, "We can't hear them."

"We have to help her," Tim said, "She'll never last until the Titans get here if she gives up." Just as he said this, as if on cue, a group of Slade's robots burst through into the café. As he got an idea, Tim grabbed the nearest thing that wasn't attached to the ground, and threw it at one of the robots, causing them to leap towards the small group of teenagers clustered against the wall. Laura saw this and pushed past the man in front of her to help her friends.

"Arrrgh!" Slade screamed as she completely blew past him to save her fellow employees. He chased towards her as she torched the robots, blackening their backs. Her friends had taken this time to rush to the back room with the other employees and Slade had forced Laura out of the café into the small parking lot that was closed in by three other buildings.

"Let me go!" she screamed kneeing him in the stomach and prying herself from his grip. She slid back a few feet in a puddle now looking straight at him. She got ready to fight, lighting her hands up and getting in a strong battle position. He laughed disregarding her attempts as his robots formed a line behind him.

"Laura, Laura, Laura," he laughed off, "You have so much to learn." His expression changed when he saw her face no longer looked scared but confident. Only moments later he was knocked off balance as a heavy steel-toed boot came into contact with the side of his head.

"It's a good thing she has some good teachers," Slade smirked as he turned his head to see the Teen Titans all ready to fight.

"My, my Robin, such a large ego," he turned so that he could see both the Titans and Laura at the same time.

"Well, this doesn't seem fair," he said looking from side to side, "Six of you against one of me. And I do believe that me and Laura just happened to be in the middle of something before you five interrupted us."

"It doesn't matter," Robin snarled, "You're going down." Slade just laughed at this.

"Doesn't that sound familiar?" the older man laughed once again, "It took Terra's life to stop me, and even that was only… temporary." At that Beast Boy clenched his fists, ready to kill the man. The other Titans, who also looked ready to kill, held him back.

"Don't you _ever_ talk about her!" Beast Boy screamed, Slade smirked, unaffected by any of this. With any warning, he was knocked to his knees as someone kicked him in the center of the back.

"Never turn your back on the enemy," Laura mocked Slade as he looked back at her.

"You worthless little child!" he screamed getting up and going at her, grabbing her by the neck and pinned her against the wall, "You're weak, you always will…." He began being cut off as a field of black energy pried him from her. He was thrown high against the same wall he had pinned Laura to, giving her enough time to get away. He was soon dropped though, and was attacked by a stream of green energy coming from the alien girl. Seeing that he truly was outnumbered he called his robots to occupy the Titans, at least most of them. Robin easily avoided the robots, coming between Slade and Laura just before he reached the girl. He pulled out his Bo staff, trying his best to keep Slade from her, but was unsuccessful as Slade pushed him aside, not concerned with him at the moment.

Before he could get any closer, the terrified Laura blasted a wall of fire between him and her, hurrying over to where Robin was. She helped him up, looking to see that the Titans seemed to be doing fine fighting the robots.

"How about some target practice?" she asked looking at Slade as the flames died down between them and him. The two of them smiled and began to charge at Slade. Laura quickly slid behind Slade as Robin brought his staff back up again and charged at Slade, who had already grabbed Laura from behind him. Laura struggled for air as his arms cut off her airway. Robin lunged at him, dropping his staff, and launched a barrage of attacks trying to get Slade to drop Laura, but the man only pushed him aside like his attacking had no effect on him.

"Let…. Me…. Go!" Laura screamed between gasps of breath, trying anything to get him to drop her, but having no success.

"You have so much I could teach you child," Slade said disregarding that the Titans were even there; it wasn't like they could do anything to stop his plan now. It was much too late. Running out of air quickly, Laura bent her head down towards Slade's hand, biting down on it with all her strength. The man immediately dropped her, and took a step backwards, only to be kicked forward by Robin, with a flying kick to his back. Laura then shot a ball of flame at the man, which appeared only to have a minimal effect on him.

"Another time children," he said seeming to disappear right in front of them.

The other three Titans however were having a much easier time as they fought off the robots that faced them. Beast boy quickly tore the head off of one of the many robots through turning into a t-rex, while Raven began easily slicing the robots that faced her into fractions. But for some reason it seemed that no matter how much they fought, they couldn't make a dent in the near army that faced them.

"They just keep coming!" Cyborg commented as he kept blasting them away from him. All of a sudden, everything seemed to stop. The Titans looked over to where Robin and Laura were, and Slade was gone. Before anything else could be done, all of the robots that surrounded the Titans ran from the parking lot.

"What just happened?" Cyborg asked the others as they met each other in the center of the lot.

"Yeah, everything just seemed to stop for no reason," Beast Boy added, looking just as confused as everyone else.

"I think Slade learned something new," Robin explained, "I'm not sure where, or how, but he figured something new out." Laura remained quiet through all of this, a pained and scared expression on her face.

"We can figure that out later," Raven said seeing the look on Laura's face, it was obvious she didn't want to think about Slade right now. They all looked back at the café, seeing that they had an audience for the fight, nothing new. As they saw the Titans looking at them, a couple of people came out hesitantly, not sure of what had just happened. It was obvious that they were just as confused, if not more, as the Titans were about what just went on.

"Are you ok?" a young man asked Laura looking into her eyes, a concerned look on his face. Laura said nothing but nodded her head. Seeing that the fight was over, an older man came out, approaching Laura directly.

"Why don't you just take the rest of the day off," he looked also concerned, but it was not clear if it was for Laura or not, but Laura again nodded her head dejectedly. Everyone knew that he didn't really mean for her to only take the day off, but no one said anything about t in front of Laura.

"Let's go home," Cyborg said softly as he and the other Titans walked towards the T-Car, while Robin went over to Laura's motorcycle to ride it home, since he hadn't taken his motorcycle to the fight.

**At the Tower**

"I can't believe that just happened," Laura said in a voice barely audible.

"We'll help you get your job back, don't worry about it," Raven tried to calm her down as the got out of the car.

"No, it's just that Slade has never come to fight with me himself," she explained, "That was the first time I saw him face to face, or mask." That actually wasn't true, she had met him once before, something she wouldn't let herself forget, but the Titans barely trusted her now, she didn't want to give them any more reason to be suspicious of her.

"Don't worry, we won't let him hurt you," Robin pulled into the garage when Laura just noticed that she hadn't rode her motorcycle.

**Later**

"I'm really scared," Laura said sitting in the main room with Robin. Outside it was pitch black, the only light in the room coming from the clock on the oven. Robin could tell that Laura was not in a mood to fight, but went into the room to see her sitting on the couch in silence.

"There's no need to be," he assured her, "You're safe as long as you're with us." For some reason he was just beginning to trust her; maybe it was because of the way he saw Slade nearly killing her during the fight that had taken place earlier, but then again he hadn't seen what started the fight.

"And I trust you," she said, "I mean you're the Teen Titans, there isn't much change a person could feel unsafe around you guys. But Slade just doesn't seem to give up."

"I know what you mean," Robin said recalling his experiences with the madman.

"The thing that scares me the most is that I don' know what he wants," she explained, "He could be planning anything and I don't know how to prepare for whatever it is."

"We'll just have to face it as it comes. Prepare for anything."

"Only if you help."

**A/N: I seem to write a lot of author's notes, most of which contain nothing but me pleading for reviews, which I wouldn't have to write if you would just review. But that is up to you, I can't force you to do anything.**


	9. The Eighth Chapter

**Disclaimer: If you ask one more time if I own Teen Titans, the rubber duckie gets it!!! You know I don't own Teen Titans, (and I also don't own Disney World, or do I??) so just shut up already!! And if you don't believe I have a duckie hostage and that I couldn't possibly harm a sweet squeaky rubber duck, well don't question me.**

**A/N: Not really any authors note, I figured that begging you to review was getting annoying on both sides of the fence so I'm going to stop. Also it may be a bit of a wit for the next chapter, since my test drive on Mac Word is about up, and I'm not sure if I can get another one until I actually have time to go out and buy the program. So I may not be able to update for awhile. Sorry.**

**Chapter Eight**

"Have you ever wanted to just get out of here?" Laura asked Robin, both of them still sitting on the couch talking, "Just for like a night?"

"Like leave the Tower?" he asked looking at her

"Yeah, just go out and have fun for a night, not be a superhero, just a kid?" she explained, "It has to get old having to fight crime all the time."

"We get out some days," he said, "Why?"

"Well even when you do get out, don't some villains always seem to ruin it?" she ignored Robin's second question.

"That does seem to happen," he thought about it, he really didn't ever have a day to himself, something always got in the way, "But I'm used to being a hero, it's what I do."

"So you're whole life you're Robin, were you born as Robin?" she questioned him, "that's all you ever plan to be?"

"No, I guess not," his voice trailed off at the end, as he was once again thinking of everything Laura was saying. After that there was a long pause in the conversation.

"Do you want to leave?" she asked suddenly, "Like get out for tonight? After today I could use for a bit of sneaking out."

"I don't know…." Robin said weary to go anywhere without his friends at three in the morning.

"I swear it will be a lot of fun, we could just ride around town."

"Well…" looking into her eyes he saw that she really wanted this, but there was his suspicion sparking up again. Who would go out at three in the morning? Possibly the same people who worked out at three in the morning. "Ok," he agreed eventually. As soon as he agreed he could see her face light up.

"Lets go!" she shot up nearly dragging him to the garage. By the time he had gotten his helmet on, she was already ready to leave, and was waiting for him. Was she a little too excited?

"I've just been bored lately," she explained as if she knew what he was thinking, "Work, come home and sleep, train, start over. Not exactly Disney World."

"Well lets get going," he said starting his motorcycle.

**In the City**

"What do you want to do?" Robin asked as the rode through the city.

"You're going to have to catch up to find out," she laughed speeding down the street as Robin quickly sped up to keep in sight of her.

"Where are you going!" he shouted above the noise of the two motorcycles barely keeping in line with her. She suddenly turned a corner catching him off guard and losing him. Hew quickly turned the next corner only to find her speeding by it laughing at him.

"That's just going to have to be a surprise," she laughed out, "You'll find out, if you can even find you're way there." Robin had no clue what she meant, until she turned into an alley losing him once again. But this time he wasn't able to find her right away, and continued to look comb through the city until he caught a glimpse of her dark red motorcycle by the base of a large hill. He stopped next to where she had parked and began to climb the hill. When he got to the top of it he saw her sitting next to a tree, staring out at the large body of water, the same one that surrounded the Tower, which was in plain sight. The view from up here was beautiful, the stars still shone in the lightening sky. She smiled as he sat down next to her.

"And it only took you half an hour," she commented, "I was about to go looking for you."

"What is this place," he asked ignoring her teasing comment.

"This, my super hero friend, is a hill," she laughed; she had a very pretty laugh he noticed.

"Yeah but how did you find it? I can probably see it from my room and never noticed it."

"Well when you're stuck in a warehouse all the time, you begin to get bored of cement floors and boxes," she explained, "You begin to find things you wouldn't have before." Robin nodded, looking at the reflection of the stars on the water; he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed this before. For a moment he didn't even think about Robin, he was just at peace, no suspicion, no paranoia, just tranquility.

"It's really calming isn't it?" she asked seeing the tranquil look on is face.

"Yeah," he said. He didn't even care what time it was. He was never tired in the mornings now, he had developed a sleeping pattern very similar to Laura's which wasn't good since he had to be alert most of the day and evening in case of criminals attacking. They sat there in silence, not even realizing how much time had passed until they began to see the sun rise over the water. Realizing how long they had been there, Robin began to get up, but was stopped by Laura's hand on his arm.

"Wait," she whispered, "Look how beautiful." He had noticed how beautiful the sun looked on the water, he had been up to watch the sun rise many days, but for some reason being up here made it seem that much more beautiful. He looked over at Laura, her eyes lit up with the rising sun. They really were alike, and she wasn't like most gifted people. She didn't seem to care about her powers; they were just something that was a part of her life. Whether they got in her way or helped her out, she didn't pay much attention to her powers. If she did have a problem with them, she sure was able to hide it.

"What?" Laura asked seeing that he had been staring at her. He hadn't even noticed that he had been looking at her that long.

"Nothing," he said turning back to the water, "you really enjoy doing this."

"I love watching the sun rise," she explained, "I do this every morning at Titans Tower, but it is so much better watching it here."

"I can tell." When the sun had risen above the water the two got up and headed down the hill.

"Haven't you ever wanted to just be normal?" Laura asked out of the blue, as they were riding home, "To just forget about being Robin and just live a normal life?"

"I don't know," Robin thought about it, "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," she said getting quiet for a while.

"I've been Robin for so long," he said breaking the silence:I don't think I could ever give it up completely." Laura didn't say anything the rest of the way back to the Tower. Robin knew she was thinking, but he didn't ask her what it was; he knew she needed some time to herself.

**A/N: I know it's a very short chapter, but it's more of a filler chapter. No I'm not going to start writing short chapters, this is just one time. So let me know what you think!! I would love to know, flame or not.**


	10. The Ninth Chapter

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, nothing much else to it. DC owns Teen Titans and all of the characters, not me get over it.**

**Author's Note: Ok people and faithful reviewers. My mother is too lazy to buy a Word program for our Mac as of yet, and the trial program I was using just ran out. I will try to use my dad's computer to update, but I only am at his house three out of seven days of the week at most. So don't be angry if I take some time to update, I'm trying here. I will try to get a program for my main computer.**

Chapter Nine 

The next day Laura got final word that she had lost her job, and regained it in the same day. When she woke up at around two, she immediately went down to the coffeehouse, begging for her job. But her boss, being a cold hard jerk, didn't want to "put his café in danger". She wasn't sure what had changed his mind, her constant nagging and begging, following around for almost an hour, or the amount of customers that piled into the café shortly after she left, asking where she was, but he contacted her that night telling her that she was rehired and to be there the next morning.

"I can't believe it," she said to herself, hanging up the phone. Everything was falling back into place from its slight displacement yesterday by Slade. The Titans didn't throw her out, Robin even seemed to trust her more than before. She lay down on the couch in the middle of the main room, closing her eyes and smiling as she heard a door open and someone walk in.

"Why are you so happy?" she heard Raven ask in a confused tone.

"Why shouldn't I be?" she asked back, opening her eyes and sitting up.

"No reason," Raven regained her monotone voice, walking around the couch and sitting in the middle of the floor, beginning to meditate, "I've just never really seen you happy." She added as she began to levitate.

"Well I did just get my job back," Laura told her as she stood up and went to the kitchen, getting a bowl, spoon, and box of cereal.

"Congratulations," Raven replied after a short pause, actually sounding glad for her, or somewhat glad. Laura sat at the counter, filling the bowl full of cereal and milk. It seemed to be the only thing she ate, breakfast lunch and dinner, at least it was since she came here. The two remained silent for some time after that, the only sound coming from Raven as she repeated the familiar phrase that Laura only really knew from hers and Raven's talks about the Orders of Scath and Azare. The two had become rather close through these talks, yet Raven still didn't trust her. Maybe it was because she sensed something not even Laura could possibly know about.

"Raven?"

"Hmm…"

"If the Order of Scath, and the Order of Azare are basically enemies, how is it possible that I'm a member of both?" the question seemed to come out of the blue, Raven had to think of her answer for a bit, not knowing how to explain.

"Well being in the Order of Azare is heredity, but only if you have a ring. The Order of Scath is also heredity, but you have to be inducted. So if both of your parents belonged to one of each, you would be a member of both."

"So if I didn't have this ring…"

"You would be a full member of the Order of Scath. Right now you're only a half member of each. Even though it may not show now, later in your life you will probably be pulled between, not sure which side you belong on." Raven though about what she had just said, if they were somehow able to get that ring from Laura, they would be forcing her into being a full member of the Order of Scath. She knew that was much worse than Laura just keeping the ring. She knew she needed to talk to Robin about this. Getting up she walked out of the room, not saying another word to Laura.

As she walked down the halls of the Tower, Raven checked nearly every room for Robin. The Evidence Room, the Training Room, even his room, he wasn't anywhere.

"Have you seen Robin anywhere?" she asked Beast Boy as she came saw him.

"No, I haven't seen him anywhere," he said, "But I'll let him know you're looking for him if I see him." As Raven started turning away he added, "Have you checked the roof?" Actually she hadn't, it hadn't occurred to her that he would be up there, he couldn't be in many other places. As she walked up onto the roof, she almost immediately saw him sitting by the edge, looking out over the water. She knew he was thinking, he always was when he came up here, but she needed to talk to him now.

"Robin?" Even though she said it softly, he jumped, as he was obviously in deep thought and hadn't heard her come onto the roof.

"Yeah Raven," he turned to face her as she sat down beside him.

"It's about Laura, or her ring," she told him, as soon as she had said it Robin knew she was serious.

"What about it?" he asked her growing concerned.

"I can't believe I didn't think of this before."

"Think of what?"

"What would happen."

"If what?"

"Sorry, I'm just concerned. We have bigger problem than getting that ring away from Laura right now," she explained, "In fact, we shouldn't. Right now it would cause more damage more than it would protect anything."

"What are you talking about?" Robin asked still not understanding, "Just a few weeks ago, you said…"

"I know what I said, but if we take that ring away from her, the balance of the Orders' she exists in would be greatly thrown of. Right now she's half a member of the Order of Scath, and half of the Order of Azare. That ring is the only thing keeping her in the Order of Azare, since she never chose to be in it. If we take it away now…"

"She'll be only a member of the Order of Scath."

"Which wouldn't be good. I'd say we're better off just leaving her with the ring; it's the safer option. We should also keep an eye on her."

"Why?"

"She doesn't feel it, but she's being pulled between good and evil. That's probably why she doesn't want to be a hero, which is probably for the best. The more she's pushed to one side, the more she'll be pulled to the other side."

"Like a game of tug of war."

"Yeah, which is why I'm worried about her staying with us."

"You don't want us to push her to be good."

"Right, she's best being neutral. It's the closest to good she'll ever be able to get, and also the farthest from evil. Robin I'm sorry, I know you two have gotten close…"

"Close? We've just trained together, we're not that close," Robin immediately defended himself, "I understand Raven, we can find her someplace else to stay."

"Great," Raven replied getting up, "I'm glad you understand."

Had it really become that obvious how close they were? How long had his friends known about this? Did Raven think he had feelings for Laura? Did he? He had no answer really for any of these questions, especially not the last one. They were just friends right? Two people helping each other out by training with each other, teaching each other new moves, there was nothing more. Wasn't it? Did Laura feel anything for him? She couldn't, could she? Everything had just seemingly gotten so complicated in one moment.

"Robin," he heard from behind him as if she knew what he was thinking.

"Yeah?" he turned to face Laura, who didn't move from the doorway back down to the Tower. He could tell that she was worried; it was painted on her face.

"I heard you and Raven talking," she said, obviously holding back her fear. She had a way of doing that, always trying to hold in her emotions, it was like a mask of her own.

"How much?" he asked almost cringing.

"About how it would be best for me to leave the Tower," she closed her eyes, "Where am I going to live? I can't go back to that warehouse, and I need to have a house to keep me job…"

"Don't worry about it," Robin said walking over to her, "We're not going to throw you into the streets."

"I've just been told that so many times," she said, "Don't worry, it's almost lost all meaning."

"You can trust me," he assured her, "Why shouldn't you? Just know that this is for the best."

"I know," she said, "To keep my sub conscious in balance." She became silent, as if thinking, "I'm just worried."

"I know."

* * *

"_I'm tired of this," a deep voice said loudly. _

"_You think I enjoy having this argument all the time?" another voice said, not trying this time to be quiet. They had stopped thinking about their daughter in the other room after some time._

"_No, I'm tired of you," after this was said there was some silence coming from the room, as if neither of them knew what to say._

"_What?" the woman hesitated to say, shocked at what had just been said._

"_I'm tired of you," the man said, "You're so naïve, always thinking people are trying to help Laura, when you and I both know they only wanted to use her!"_

"_Do not talk to me like that!" the woman had regained her confidence, "Just leave! Just leave and go to the bar like you always do!"_

"_Maybe I won't come back this time!" Again there was a pause, this one seemed to last forever._

"_May-Maybe you shouldn't," the woman was obviously shaken again. There was no more talk after this, just the sound of another slamming door, and softly the cries of a worried woman and a deafening silence coming from the room. A worried thirteen year old quickly got out of her bed, quietly going to the living room. She climbed into her mother's arms, neither of them saying anything, the only noise coming from the two were their scared cries._

_The next morning Laura saw the she and her mother must have fallen asleep on the couch. She carefully got up, not wanting to wake her mother, and went to the kitchen to get herself breakfast. As she sat at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal, her mother had woken up, realizing just what her daughter had. She also walked into the kitchen making herself a pot of coffee and sitting down across from her daughter. For some time the two said nothing, as Laura stared down at her cereal, and her mother staring across the table, thinking about her future._

"_Mom?" Laura asked suddenly, "I'm sorry." She sniffed, still upset from what had happened last night._

"_For what honey?" her mother looked surprised, not understanding what her daughter meant._

"_For what happened," she said, "You know I had a part in what happened." For about a minute her mother looked at her, her eyes filled with guilt._

"_It was not your fault," she said sternly after awhile, "What happened was bound to happen, it had nothing to do with you."_

"_You know it was!" she looked at her mother, both of them knowing the truth._

"_Don't worry about it," her mother assured her, "We don't need him."_

**A/N: Ok then. Not as short as my previous chapter, but not my longest. Just so you were wondering. I may know a lot about the Teen Titan's comics, but I don't really know much about the Order of Scath and Azare, only what the show tells me. So please don't review flaming me for that, I just did what made the story easiest for me. And again, if I don't update for awhile, its because I'm only able to write like once a week at my dad's house now. So If you didn't read my other author's note, go do that. Please review though, it will make all of us happier.**


	11. The Tenth Chapter

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own Teen Titans. Don't think I haven't tried, I have. And I won't stop saving until I can purchase them. It may take a little while though. In the mean time, I own Laura, you do not, I spent time trying to perfect her, and her story, and you did not, so leave her alone. This is your warning, you will get not one more so be warned.**

**A/N: Actually her story is still mucho in progress, but I'm nearly there, just some minor details left to think of. You'd be surprised how long I've been working on this. And since I stated in the previous chapter, I will be slower in updating, so you people better have read one of the two warnings spread throughout these last two chapters, including this one. I DO NOT HAVE WORD ON MY COMPUTER!!! See that?? Right, well I'm using my dad's at the moment, and am only at his house over the weekend, so I can only write (slash) update on the weekends.**

**Chapter Ten**

"Fancy meeting you here," Laura looked up from her cup of coffee to see Tim standing next to the small table she sat at.

"Hey," she said smiling, "Want to join me?"

"I'm considering this the date you owe me just so you know," he said pulling up a seat and sitting down.

"Date?"

"Don't tell me you forgot," he said acting hurt, "I asked if you wanted coffee, and you told me you'd have one later."

"I don't think I said that," she said smiling over the rim of her coffee cup, "I believe I said maybe you could see the Tower, since you didn't believe me that I live there."

"Well I took artistic license," he said, "I get to do those kinds of things you know. Its just the way I am." She laughed with him as he finished his sentence.

"Really, just what gives you this strange power?" she raised her eyebrows at him questioningly.

"I was born with it," he explained, "Its called 'The Gift of the Adorable One'."

"You sound so powerful."

"Yes, but do be warned, it is a terrible load to bare."

"I'm so sorry to hear."

"Yes, everyday I get girls coming to me, seeking my gift of just being cute."

"How horrible."

"Yes, but I somehow get through each day, but it is a struggle mind you."

"I'm glad to hear that you're able to endure that," she laughed, looking over at the clock seeing that it was already five, "I better get back to work."

"See you later," he said getting up as she did.

"Bye," she said walking back to the back room. For some reason ever since she got her job back her boss was much easier on her. Maybe it was the customers she brought in when she was there. He also realized that when she was on break people would come in more than when she was working. But people would buy more when she did work. He had somehow found a delicate balance between the two, giving her plenty of break time. She did enjoy it, but it did mean that she didn't get off until six now.

Ever since that fight she had with Slade, the other employees were almost scared of her, except Tim. He didn't seem to care about what had happened, or he wasn't scared of it. He somehow understood that what she was going through was very hard for her. He had been one of the closest friends she had had in a long time.

**After Work **

Laura walked into the Tower, immediately walking over to the couch. She had gotten back into a normal sleeping pattern, so she didn't fall asleep the minute she got back from work anymore. She had been remembering things she just wanted to forget, it could happen at anytime. She could be sleeping, at work, or just anywhere. Many people would tell her she was just having recurring memories, but the thing was, she remembered everything that was "coming back to her". She had tried as hard as she could to push it away, and even when she wasn't doing anything related to the memories, she would just think of them; like someone was turning a television on and off in her mind. She couldn't really explain it, and she didn't understand it, she wasn't sure she wanted to. Every time she tried to figure a mystery out in her life, she ended up getting herself into trouble She knew it was inevitable.

In the middle of her train of thought, she was interrupted by Cyborg walking into the room.

"Oh hey," he said noticing her, "When did you get home?"

"Just now, why?" she asked him looking at him suspiciously for any sign of guilt, fear, anything.

"Just didn't hear you," he said knowing he would probably regret what he was going to do next in the very near future, "We're all in the training room, wanna join us?" Laura just shrugged her shoulders, and followed him to the room she had grown accustomed to over the past month. As she entered the room, both she and Cyborg were surprised to get no objection from Robin.

"Should we really let her stay?" Robin asked Raven when no one noticed.

"I'm not sure," she replied, "it could be dangerous. Anything we do could set her into that mode of tug-o-war."

"Well we can't just tell her to leave," he was right, neither of them wanted to tell her she had to leave, they were past the phase of suspicion, and far into the watch over her phase. Actually Robin really didn't want her to leave. She was a really good sparing partner, even though none of the Titans knew that. He knew that she took pride in the condition of her body. She had mentioned that she tried to train in some way everyday. If she didn't train she knew she would lose everything she had worked so hard on the protect herself. She had also mentioned how much she had to keep herself from. It was deafening how long the list seemed to be. That was one reason why Robin didn't want to make her leave. He felt that as long as she stayed with the Titans, they could protect her from these things.

"Are you just joining to stand there?" he heard from behind him, the voice breaking him from his thoughts. He turned around to see Laura waiting behind him, "Raven said to pair up and spar five minutes ago after you zoned out." She smiled at him; that was something he didn't understand about her. She never seemed to have a really smooth life, yet she always seemed to be in a good mood, at least she was around him.

"I'm ready," he got into a fighting stance as she did the same. Laura immediately sprung into action jumping high into the air, coming down sharply above Robin, who had already grabbed her foot and pulled her back to the earth. It really wasn't much of a fight anymore, since they had already taught each other their moves, and learned how to block them. They both knew if they were in a real fight against each other, it would be long and boring.

"I really think we should start using weapons," Laura said quietly, blocking another one of Robin's attempts at an attack.

"I wouldn't want to hurt you."

"I really don't think you could," she smiled, laughing slightly, "But we probably shouldn't set off explosives in the Tower." Robin looked around, knowing it wouldn't help him at all doing what they currently were doing. Leaning against a wall not far from him, he saw a pile of wooden sparring staffs, he hurried over to the pile, and grabbed two, throwing one to Laura.

"This could help," she caught the staff that had been thrown to her, "Its something new." Robin walked over to where they had been sparring before, a staff of his own in hand. Laura then jumped high into the air, coming down with the end of her staff pointed toward Robin's chest. He quickly reacted by pushing her staff away with his as she came back to the ground. As she landed she took a few steps back, regaining her composure. Robin then ran toward her, and she put up her staff as it clashed with his. After a minute or two of attacks on each other, Robin once more tried to hit her with his staff, she quickly brought hers up, swinging at him with it, almost like a bat. As the two staffs connected, Laura's quickly snapped in half. Robin stopped for a minute, smirking at her.

"I think I won that round," he said dropping his staff to his side.

"Why, I think I just got an advantage. I may not have a weapon, I have two now." Robin considered what she said, and she used this time to swiftly knock him to the ground. Robin quickly got up, but Laura used both of the staffs to pull his away from him. She then dropped her weapons and smiled.

"Now, I believe it's over." She smiled, and the other Titans, who had been watching the two fight for sometime now, walked over to them.

"That was amazing," Cyborg said in awe.

"Truly glorious."

"You guys looked like you've been doing this for awhile," Raven said raising an eyebrow.

"I guess we're just good fighters," Laura replied coyly shrugging her shoulders.

**That Night**

"Nice shooting Tex," Laura replied as Robin walked into the room, late at night. He smiled, slightly shaking his head at her.

"You too," he said, "I haven't seen anyone fight that well in awhile."

"Well we have fought before you know."

"Yeah, but you're always a good fighter." He looked at her, she looked different, but he wasn't sure why. Her hair was down, but he had seen her like that many times before, and her hair was longer now, it seemed to grow very quickly, in the past month, it had already grow what seemed like an inch. He pushed the thought away, knowing he would probably never figure out what it was.

Laura looked over to the window, with almost a longing in her eyes.

"Wanna go out for another field trip?" she asked still looking out the window.

"Another sun rise?"

"No, I've got a lot more to show you of this town. You may live here, but you don't really know about it. No one really does."

"What does that mean." He cocked an eyebrow and smiled at her as she turned back to him.

"Nothing, just no one really bothers to find those magical little spots in this town."

"Then why don't you lead the way?"

"I was planning on." She stood up, and walked over to the door.

As the two rode through the town, which seemed to be deserted at this time of night, or morning, they seemed not to mind the fact that the streets weren't actually a race-lane.

"Where are we going tonight?"

"A I have said before, you're just going to have to find out."

"You really are being cruel."

"Well then just call me Cruella, and keep up." She once again sped off, this time Robin able to keep a close distance behind her. After a few minutes she stopped, and got off of her motorcycle, Robin following her pattern. Without saying another word, she walked across the field of the park, motioning for Robin to follow her.

"What's with the spy act?"

"I just don't want anyone to follow us," she whispered.

"Why not?"

"Because this is my utopia." As they reached the forest that had been once across the field from them, Laura didn't hesitate to push her way through the trees. Robin clumsily followed her the long way through the forest, relieved when he saw her step into a clearing ahead of him. When he stepped out of the trees though, the sight he saw wasn't his opinion of a utopia. Surrounded by what seemed like a fence of charred and burnt trees was what was left of a once beautiful house.

"What is this?"

"My home."

**A/N: I think I should stop there, yes I think I will. A good chapter, and I major leap in the plot. I think you should review, since I feel bad that I can't update as often as I usually do, or so it feels that way. Anyway, show me the opinions, and review!!!**


	12. The Eleventh Chapter

**Disclaimer: Grabs lawyer and uses it as a shield I don't own Teen Titans!! Just ask him!!! Points to the lawyer/shield I swear I would never take credit for something so wonderful if I didn't create it. Hmm… maybe you shouldn't take credit for Laura, just a thought; I have to protect my wonderful OC's you know.**

**A/N: I haven't gotten many reviews lately. Now I know I've been trying not to badger you about it, but it makes me very sad. I know these chapters have been a tad rushed lately, I'll try and slow down and let the story flow as it once did, but only if you promise to review, and not yell at me when it takes me weeks upon weeks to update. I should be getting a Word program on my main computer soon, so this is only temporary.**

**Chapter Eleven**

"Your home?" Robin looked around at the destroyed and charred site that was once a house. He didn't see how anyone could have, or ever in the future, lived here.

"Yeah," she walked father into the site, "I want to rebuild it one day. It was my biological parents home, before they died." She kneeled down, picking up a burnt piece of wood that seemed not to have been touched in ages.

"I'm sorry," he said, he had actually figured that her parents had died, but she had never actually admitted to anyone before what had happened, "My parents are dead too."

"Thanks," she stood up, "They actually died a long time ago, and I was an infant." She looked absently out into the woods. "I never understood why this place was left untouched. Maybe they were scared of it."

"Of what?" Robin walked over broken pieces of wood, putting his hand on Laura's shoulder.

"Of me." She simply, "How many infants can survive a raging fire after her full grown parents died just feet from where she was sleeping?" She put her hand to head, it was obvious that this place brought up bad feelings for her; it almost looked as if she were in pain.

"You know, I haven't had much luck with families," she said quickly, not wanting Robin to ask the questions she knew he wanted to ask, "My foster parents died too." She wasn't sure why she was telling him all of this. She just wanted to tell somebody. Never before had she been able to explain her mixed emotions about her past to. When she was with Robin, it just seemed to pour out of her mouth as if she had no control over it.

"We really are alike," Robin commented, "I didn't really end things well with my foster father before I left."

"You really are lucky to have the Titans," she looked back at him, "I've been alone for the past four years."

"Having the Titans around doesn't always mean you're not alone," he said, "I know I'm lucky to have such great friends, but I've always felt something missing, something that makes me feel so alone. Like they don't understand me half the time."

"You're right," Laura said, her mood seeming to lighten, "We really are alike." Laura shivered suddenly.

"I think its going to rain," she said looking up at the sky.

"How do you know?" Robin asked, also looking up.

"I can just tell," She said, smiling at him as it started to rain. At first it was only a drizzle, but within a few minutes it started to pour.

"Told you," she smiled as Robin began to get up she stopped him.

"What?" he asked looking down at her.

"We don't have to go yet," she assured him, "We won't melt."

"We might if we get hit by lightning," he commented.

"First off, we wouldn't melt, we'd get burnt," she smiled, "And second, I see no lightning."

"Why don't you want to leave," he questioned her, sitting back down.

"I just don't want to go back to my life of working and training yet," she said as if she was a prisoner, in her world she was. Always doing the exact same thing every day. The only relief she had from that was the time each night she spent with Robin. It was as if he was the key to her prison cage. If she didn't get out at night, she really might go crazy.

Robin looked at Laura, her hair was soaking wet, and they hadn't said anything to each other for about five minutes, but he could tell she was having a good time, and oddly, so was he. He liked just being here, he felt as though a bond was growing between the two of them. He was sure that Laura wouldn't bring any of the other Titans to show them this, she might show Raven, but she hadn't yet. He smiled, seeing her hair plastered to her face. He knew his was just as wet, but neither of them seemed to care. He didn't seem to care about anything, it was as if everything that had just happened was washed away with the rain, and down it went, into the earth.

"If only the rain really could wash away feelings," Robin whispered to himself.

"What?" Laura asked him, as she hadn't heard quite what he said.

"Nothing," he said, "Just thinking out loud."

"Ahh, the curse of a big mouth," she smiled, she had a beautiful smile he noted, "What are you staring at?"

"Nothing," Robin said quickly, a little too quickly.

"You were staring at me," she opened her mouth, shocked that he would lie to her. Technically it wasn't a lie, but he still hadn't told the truth.

"Maybe you just have something hanging from your nose," he pointed at an imaginary spot under her nose. She fell for it, quickly bringing her hand to her face, an evil grin crossing her face as she realized he wasn't serious.

"You're so funny," she said laughing.

"I guess I am, if you're laughing." She slowly stopped laughing, but couldn't help but smile.

"Maybe I'm laughing _at _you."

"You wouldn't be laughing at me," he pointed out, "I'm too irresistible." She half snorted at this, half laughing also.

"You are," she said, keeping herself from laughing, trying to sound serious.

"Of course I am," after Robin said this, the two both stopped laughing. Both of them were looking at each other, not saying anything, but thinking the same thing.

'_There's something about him,'_ Laura thought to herself, she couldn't tell what it was. She felt so free around him; she didn't care what she said, because she knew he wouldn't. She didn't have to be perfect Laura, shy Laura, or sly Laura; she could just be Laura. She didn't have to hide anything, because he was right, they were alike, and she knew that a lot of what she was going through, he had something similar to it happen to him.

She looked back at him seeing that he was still staring at her. Before either of them knew it, both of them had leaned in, and were connected in a warm kiss. As this kiss was going on, both of them soaked to the bone, a clash of lightening lit up the sky above them. When they pulled away from each other, they stared in each other's eyes, but quickly looked away. Neither of them said anything, it was as if the tension between each other had just disappeared with the now lightening rain.

"We should get back to the Tower," Robin finally said. Laura nodded, and he helped her up from the mud soaked ground.

They walked slowly back to their bikes, which they had luckily put under the cover of a group of trees, and started them up, relieved to see that both motorcycles worked. They then drove out onto the rode, a light rain still falling over both of them.

"Such a sweet girl."

**The Next Day **

She didn't understand it; they hadn't even talked since the night before. It was as if he was avoiding her. She knew he felt the same way she did, there was no way he didn't. It was one of the greatest kisses she had ever had. There was a slim chance he didn't feel the same way she did. No kiss was that good for only one person. It wasn't just the kiss; she felt a connection with him, like they were at least supposed to talk. But he didn't seem to want to talk to her, again, he was avoiding her.

"What is wrong with him," Laura asked herself, wiping down a table in the café. It was about seven, her boss was short handed, and asked her to stay a little late. The café was closing early today, so she would be heading back to the Tower soon, knowing Robin would avoid her once again, as he had just this morning. Maybe she was being paranoid, but he wasn't making his attempts exactly subtle.

After they had gotten back to the Tower last night, he hurried off to his room, no goodnight, and not a word on the ride home, she hadn't spoken either, but she was tired. That morning, he saw she was eating breakfast, and made some excuse to leave the room. She couldn't remember it, it was something dumb about leaving his toothbrush on. She sighed, throwing the rag over her shoulder and walking into the back room.

"I'm going to head home," she announced, putting away the rag and her apron. Being the only other person in the room, Tim nodded his head in recognition, and looked up.

"See you tomorrow," he said as she walked past him to leave out the back door.

"See you," she said as she closed the door. There was a slight cold tone to her voice, but that was only because of her frustration in Robin at that moment. She didn't mean to take it out on Tim she just couldn't help it. Why couldn't he say something to her? Was he afraid that she didn't feel anything for him? Did he? So many questions had run through her head that day. She was just trying to figure out what was going on in Robin's head.

Driving home she was distracted, thinking the same things over and over. She couldn't get the thoughts out of her head, what was wrong? She stopped her bike as she came to a stoplight, and turned down an alley, a short cut to the Tower. The alley was dark, and narrow, she knew she shouldn't have taken it, but she really just wanted to get back to the Tower.

Just as she reached the middle of the alley though, she felt a sharp pain shoot through the back of her head, and she blacked out.

* * *

**A/N: Mwahahahah!! Try not to review to that! I dare you! But anyway, I'll make you a deal, I get a review, I'll start writing the next chapter. I already know what's going to happen, you don't. I could wait a year to write it, but the question is can you wait that long?? You'll have to decide that for yourself. Also, if you review to this chapter, I will personally message you answering all of your questions, no matter how long ago you asked them. Gawd, I feel like a salesman.**


	13. The Twelfth Chapter

**Disclaimer: Well I believe that I've told you people that I don't own Teen Titans in many, many different ways, and you still don't get it that I am not DC and therefore do NOT own Teen Titans. Now I could start saying it in other languages, but then you'd complain saying you couldn't read it, besides, I don't know many other languages. So you'll just have to deal with it, I'm sticking to English.**

**A/N: I'm very please to see how well my threat worked. I should start threatening you people with cliffhangers more often. No, only when the time calls for it. You people need to understand that I'm not that mean; I'm very nice in fact. I will continue on with the story, but there may be a few cliffhangers in these next chapters, since I'm not going to squeeze the not part it one mono-chapter. It would be way to long. So you'll have to keep your socks on and just keep on reviewing. Speaking of reviewers, I felt the need to acknowledge you.**

**Good Girl'z Dead: I am very please to hear that you like my story, I will continue to update; I've come to far to stop now.**

**Mattchew: One of my veteran reviewers, I should just give you a llama. I should………**

**Cayhleenlovestowrite: I love that little face. Its very cute. Again, I have updated, and no more threats to my readers.**

**To all of you other people, I would recognize you, but these are the people who responded to my threat so far. If you want to get noticed, REVIEW!!**

**Chapter Twelve**

"_It really is a shame."_

"_Yeah. How old was her daughter again?"_

"_Thirteen. It was her foster daughter. Poor kid, she's already been through so much."_

"_I wonder how well she's going to take this."_

"_Who knows, probably not well." The two cops continued their conversation as they walked up to a small house, knowing exactly what they had to do. As they walked up the porch, they could see a newspaper lying on the welcome mat. One of them bent down to pick it up, both of them seeing the same thing._

_On the front page, the headline was horrific. It read "Mother of one dies in car accident." They couldn't believe it had gotten out that quickly. But they had been in the business long enough to know that news traveled fast when it was so tragic. The first cop rang the doorbell, and they waited for an answer. As they waited, and waited no one answered the door, looking in one of the windows, the second cop could see that no one was in the house._

"_She's probably just sleeping."_

"_Its noon."_

"_She's thirteen, teenagers sleep late."_

"_Well they told us to get her, we should go in." He opened the door, seeing it was unlocked. As they walked inside, noting seemed out of place. It was just a normal home, they were normal people._

"_Hello?" _

"_She's probably upstairs. We should check up there."_

"_Yeah," the cop agreed as they both headed upstairs. _

"_Which one would be her room?"_

"_We should just check all of them." They began checking the rooms, finding nothing in each of them. A bathroom, the mother's bedroom, another bedroom, probably for guests. When all of the rooms were checked but one, they walked over to the last door. Opening it quietly, not wanting to startle her if she was sleeping. _

"_Laura?" one of them called into the room, it was obviously her room. When they received no answer, they were alarmed._

"_Look," one of them said to the other, pointing to the open window._

"_Oh no."_

"Really, I expected more of a struggle from you girl," Laura heard a familiar voice say as she began to come to, "Not a fight, no gases, all they needed to do was hit you. I thought you were better than that." She didn't open her eyes, she already knew who she was with. Around her wrists she could feel cold metal, the same feeling she felt around her ankles. As she slowly opened her eyes, she saw that she was correct; Slade was standing in front of her, and in his hands was her mother's ring.

"What could you possibly want?" she snapped, not even looking at Slade, staring right at the ring.

"Now, now," he said holding up the ring, seeing that all of her attention was focused on it, "I don't think you're in a position to question me. That's not why I brought you here."

"Then why did you bring me here?" she looked up at him, her loose hair falling in her face.

"Patience child," he said in a calm voice, "You'll find that out in due time."

"Give me back my ring," she said, angry once again.

"This?" Slade looked at the ring, "I was just thinking how it looks so much like the one I had." He held the ring still, ignoring Laura's demands for him to give it back.

"You know, you look just like your mother," He said, "She was so beautiful." An almost depressed mood swept over him, but behind his mask he was smiling.

"How do you know my mother?" Laura asked harshly. She couldn't stand to hear him speaking of her mother. He was vile, criminal scum, and she wouldn't have him speaking of her mother.

"Just some advice," he continued ignoring the girl's question, "Don't give it to the Titans, they'll destroy this ring."

"Why would they do that?" she asked curiously, "The Titans are my friends."

"Don't tell me Raven hasn't told you what this is. I know you realize its power," he looked into her eyes, "Ahh, but you didn't hear Robin and Raven talking."

"I'm pretty sure they talk a lot without me knowing," she pointed out.

"Yes, but I'm sure you'd be interested in this conversation." He moved to the side, revealing a large screen behind him. The screen turned on, and in a moment the two Titans were shown on it, speaking outside the infirmary.

"_She said that it belongs to her mother," Robin stated._

"_So it must be her father that was a member of the Order of Scath," Raven said, "In any case, I need that ring from her. Even if she doesn't know it, someone who belongs to the Order of Scath can do serious damage with a Ring of Azare. She may not even realize she's doing it."  
"Then we need to gain her trust," he said, "She'll have to stay here."  
"But she doesn't want to stay here," Raven pointed out.  
"But I feel she'll change her mind now that she knows you know everything about these strange thing in her life," Robin told her, "She'll want you to tell her more about these things."_

"How did you get that?" Laura snapped her head to look him right in the eye; a look of rage was on her face.

"The Titans did not realize exactly how many cameras Terra placed in their Tower," Slade told her, not bothering to tell her who Terra was, "Hundreds of nano-cameras still sit unnoticed in their precious Tower." Looking at Laura he was pleased to see a defeated look on her face.

"I can't believe they would try to do that," she said to herself, Slade walked up behind her, putting a large hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sure they didn't want to hurt you. They didn't think you would ever find out about their plan." As he said this, Laura could feel warmth spreading from her should down her arm. She closed her eyes as it started to burn, and screamed out in pain. Slade ignored her obvious pain, and only laughed in recognition.

"So many memories with the Titans," he whispered in her ear, "So many of them painful." Laura snapped her eyes open, a blank stare had fallen across her face.

"No," she whispered as memories flashed before her eyes. Things she hadn't even thought of before appeared in her head. A training session with Robin, seeming perfectly normal at first, until he nearly broke her arm not showing any remorse, but telling her to work on her moves, a conversation of hers with Raven, going fine until Raven started laughing in her face, telling her she was a complete idiot. And one last memory flashed before her so painful she could barely keep her eyes open.

"How could he…." She wondered to herself

"They don't really care about you," he whispered in her ear, "They only wanted this." He dropped the ring in her lap, glad to see a look of untamed rage on her face. He then released the restraints on her wrists and ankles. He knew his plan was once again in motion.

"I'm sure you can find me if you wish to talk," he said as Laura rubbed her wrists, regaining some lost circulation.

"A ploy…."

Laura looked down at the ring in her lap, feeling only disgust towards it. She picked it up, shocked to see that a pattern of symbols, similar to the Mark of Scath on her back, were strung down her arm in a line.

"You'll be fine," Slade replied, seeing her reaction to the new marks, "But I don't think you should keep the Titans waiting. They'll be worried."

"I doubt that," she snuffed standing up to leave.

**At the Tower**

"Were is she?" Robin asked the other four Titans that were in the room for the hundredth time.

"Robin, you need to relax," Raven replied calmly, looking up from the book she held in front of her face, "She's a strong girl she'll be fine."

"How do you know?" he asked, "She should have been home hours ago!"

"Robin chill," Cyborg said, "Raven's right. She's going to be fine."

"I'm just concerned," he said. Was she upset with him? He hadn't made his embarrassment from last night very subtle. He couldn't help it. He cared so much for her, and he didn't want to hear that she didn't feel the same way. Besides, he hadn't even been thinking of Star when they were out last night. He couldn't do this to her, he shouldn't. It was wrong, wrong to do to her. Star was so sweet, and kind, and she didn't deserve a pig like him.

But Laura cared about him, and he was worried about her. She had shared so much with him, so many secrets, they had a bond growing between them. He should tell Starfire what happened, she would understand, she had too. He could just explain to Laura why he felt so bad, she would understand, he had to talk to one of them, but who? Neither of them deserved a pig like him, he lied to both of them, but he hadn't meant to. He never saw any of this coming, he was just living, not thinking.

"Well could you be concerned a little quieter?" Beast Boy asked, "I'm finally kicking Cy's butt at this game."

"Three games is not kicking my butt," Cyborg replied, concentrating on the screen once again, "You need to trust her, she won't let herself get hurt." Robin knew that was true, but he still couldn't stand not knowing where she was.

"If you're so concerned, why don't you go out and look for her?" Raven asked.

"I'm going to," Robin walked towards the door, and grabbed his helmet off of the back of a chair. He had to talk to Laura, she was tough, he knew she was. He could stand to hurt Starfire, Star was so sweet, and somewhat naïve at times. He wasn't sure how Star would take it, but maybe Laura would understand.

"I shall assist you," Starfire replied flying after him. As she said this, Robin cringed, he needed to talk to Laura alone, and talking in front of Star would be just as bad as if he spoke to Star alone. If she heard what he had to say to Laura, it would just as easily break her heart as if he said it to her.

"Thanks Star," he said as they got to the garage, "Why don't we split up to cover more ground," he suggested. Actually he just didn't really want her to be there for whatever happened if he found Laura. Laura knew he and Star liked each other, but he hadn't mentioned that they were together. It just hadn't come up; he planned on telling her, but after last night….

He had to stop thinking about this. Right now what was important was finding Laura, making sure she was ok. He knew he would have to deal with his other problem after he found her, but he had to find her first. And he exactly where she should be.

**A/N: There it is, I'm trying not to rush things, but I'm excited for these next chapters, so forgive me. A lot will be going on, so these chapters might be a tad short so you can understand it slowly. Pease review and I will love you.**


	14. The Thirteenth Chapter

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. I never have, I've stated this before but I know I will have to say it again. (Stupid lawyers) AHHH!! I didn't mean it!!! I love all of you lawyers!! Cowers from ebil lawyers**

**A/N: Those lawyers really are scary you know. And you never want to anger a lawyer, whispers they have powers!!! How else are they going to convince a whole jury that I deserve ten years probation? Wait, you weren't supposed to know that…….. No, j/k j/k, had you for a second there didn't I?**

**Chapter Thirteen**

Why was she doing this? Why couldn't she just come to him and talk like someone normal? Because she's not normal, she's different, amazing. Robin couldn't help but think about these things as he drove through town, the darkness of night spreading through it as the minutes passed by. He knew exactly where he was going, bur still driving in the dark never helped anybody. Even a super hero feels uncomfortable in the dark.

As he pulled up to the park he had been to just the night before, he peered into the distant forest. He felt a heavy weight being placed on him, but he had no idea why. He shouldn't feel this nervous; he hadn't meant to hurt her. Had he hurt her? He didn't even know if he did. She could be out here for some completely different reason. He knew that was just a lie he was telling himself. He just wished he could get himself to believe it.

"So far I have not located her," Robin heard Starfire say over the communicator.

"It's ok Star," he told her, "I found her, you can go home." He hated lying to her, he didn't like to lie to anybody on his team. But sometimes he knew he had to. He didn't want her running into them; he didn't want her to hear what he was going to say until he had made his decision. If she heard him it could break both her hearts and Laura's. He couldn't stand to hurt one of them, he knew he had to, but he didn't want to even think about it. Yet it was all he could think about.

He pushed his way through the thin layer of trees, seeing exactly what he expected when he reached the other side. He could barely see, but he knew who it was. There wouldn't be anybody else here; he knew she wouldn't have that.

"Laura," he said, his voice was weak, it came out barely as a whisper. She sat there in the middle of the debris, looking completely defeated, at least from what he could tell.

"What do you want?" her head snapped up as she yelled the question at Robin. It was obvious she was mad but much too mad; she seemed to be overreacting. There had to be something else wrong than what he knew.

"Laura, what's wrong?"

"Stay away from me." She said hanging her head again. She closed her eyes, as if she were almost in pain from something. He put his hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her, despite her near orders for him to leave. As soon as his hand touched her shoulder, her head spun around, and her eyes were literally lit with fire.

"Don't touch me!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. She shot up immediately, and Robin fell back, worry and fear mixed on his face.

"Laura, what is wrong with you?" he asked her screaming. He quickly got back up, but Laura had used this time to get ready to fight. Looking down at her right arm it was only then that he saw the new tattooing going up her forearm. "What-" he started.

"You like, just a new look I'm trying out." He soon recognized the glowing symbols as marks from the Order of Scath. So she had been somewhere else tonight. Maybe that would explain her strange behavior.

"What is wrong with you?" he asked her. Looking at her he could see how angry she was, he had no idea why. All he did was come here and ask if she was ok, this was insane.

"What's wrong with me?" she asked him, shooting a fireball at him, burning his left sleeve off, he jumped back, not wanting to hurt her, but knowing he had to protect himself, "How could you? I trusted you, I showed you more of my life than anybody has ever seen. I let you into my soul. You had to ruin that, you're sick!"

"Laura, I don't know what you're talking about," he said trying to remain calm, not wanting to upset her anymore.

"Oh, of course not," she advanced towards him, she looked like she wanted to rip him apart piece by piece, truthfully inside she almost did, "Of course you can't be bothered with remembering how you destroyed someone's soul." She shot another stream of fire at him; he was already sweating with the heat surrounding him.

"Laura," he said drawing a disk, "I don't want to hurt you." He knew this was a mistake, as soon as he said this, an anger he hadn't seen her even dream of before washed over her face. It looked as if flames were swallowing her whole body.

"You couldn't now if you wanted to," she said simply. Next she created a ball of fire in her hands, at first it was small, but smiling she watched as it grew bigger and bigger, all this time, Robin couldn't look away from what she was doing, he knew he had to protect himself, but he couldn't. Something told him not to, maybe he could still get through to her, convince her that he didn't do whatever she thought he had.

Laura put the huge ball of fire over her head, looking down at Robin, who just stood there. She knew this would be easy he wasn't even fighting back. With all her strength she threw the ball down, directly at Robin with deadly aim.

As the ball came charging down at him, Robin wished Laura would just stop it, but he dodged it, knowing she was too angry to help him in any way at this point. He looked at her, almost pleading for her to listen to him before he threw a disk at her. She laughed and easily burned the disk to ashes, looking Robin straight in the eye.

"Don't make me angry," she brought her hand to the ground, sending a streak of flames towards Robin, who wasn't able to avoid them. He screamed out in pain and fell to his knees.

"You didn't think you would get away with what you did, did you?" She shot another string of fireballs at him, as he collapsed from her attacks.

"You really could use some more training Robin." He heard nothing else before he blacked out.

* * *

What had happened? Was he dead? Obviously not, but why not? Laura had seemed pretty content on killing him before he blacked out. Robin slowly opened his eyes; he saw that he hadn't been moved from the spot he fell on. Either that or he had been put exactly back where he fell. He couldn't be sure. As he began to come to, and his strength returned to him, he sat up, and saw that the Titans had been looking for him, for four hours. It was now one in the morning. Why hadn't they been able to find him? Surely they could have tracked him using his communicator. But for some reason it must not be giving off a signal.

Where had she gone? Robin noticed Laura had left, obviously hours ago, but he could have known she would. She was so angry with him, for what? She had said something about destroying her soul, about losing her trust in him. He just didn't know why. He knew he hadn't done anything to hurt her, at least nothing that would make her this angry.

He stood up, and realized just how sore he was. Laura hadn't held back when she was fighting him, she was a lot stronger than what she had showed him in practice. He wondered just how strong she was. She could have been holding back just before. She could be so much stronger than anybody knew.

Was he supposed to chase her? He really didn't think she wanted that. Right now he really should just go home and rest, maybe try to find her later, with the Titans. He wouldn't face her alone again until he knew she was calm. He knew he had to talk to her. He was terrified of what she would do next, mostly because he had no idea what that would be. At this point she was capable of almost anything.

Walking across the field to his motorcycle, Robin couldn't help but wonder what those marks were. Maybe they were why Laura was so mad; perhaps she was being tricked. He had to help her; he couldn't stand knowing that someone was using her.

* * *

"Where have you been?" Robin was greeted as soon as he walked in the Tower.

"Yeah, Star said you'd found Laura four hours ago," Raven said, and saw that he was injured.

"Speaking of Laura, where is she?" Beast Boy asked, noticing she wasn't with Robin.

"She got away," he stated simply.

"You make her sound like a criminal," Cyborg commented, "What do you mean got away?"

"She's really upset," he explained, not even sure how he was going to explain, "And she-"

"Attacked you?" Raven finished for him, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm just a little sore," he said, "I don't know why she freaked out like that. She said something about losing her trust in me, how she couldn't believe I would do something like that to her."

"Like what?" Starfire asked.

"I have no idea, I've been trying to figure it out since I woke up," he paused thinking, "But Raven, she had these weird marks on her arm. I could tell they were from the Order of Scath."

"Do you remember what they looked like?" she asked him, "Maybe that would explain this weird behavior."

"Not really, I know I couldn't describe them."

"Something is going on, and I think Laura is in great danger," Raven said, "we have to find her."

"I don't have any idea where she went," Robin explained, "She could have gone anywhere in four hours. I had no idea she was so strong."

"We'll worry about that later," Raven said, "Let's get these burns fixed."

**A/N: There you go, I don't know what it is, but I feel like its so much shorter than what I normally submit. I guess I'm crazy, because I know its roughly the same. Well anyway, review, I am except you criticism. You should know that, I need it to improve!**


	15. The Fourteenth Chapter

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans! Gosh darnit, must I write it out for you? Well I already have, so deal with it. If you have a problem with the situation of my ownership, (or lack of), of Teen Titans, talk to DC, not me.**

**A/N: Ok, another beautiful chapter!! I know you people are so happy. I am too; it's a good thing. It really is. I would like to say hello to my new reviewers, hello, and congratulate them on a wonder job at reviewing, you all have lifted my spirits, and do so every time I see a new review for my story. You reviews keep me writing, so unless you want to piece together the rest of the story yourselves, keep up the reviewing. **

**Chapter Fourteen**

She didn't understand, why would he have done something so sickening, so wrong, something that would hurt her? She swore he was a good person, and that she could trust him, but she didn't understand why she couldn't remember before what he had done. She supposed it had happened the previous night when they kissed, but he had to take it farther, to ruin a good and beautiful night. She could still remember the disgust she felt, wanting to kill him, why hadn't she? Why hadn't she fought back? She could have stopped him, but she hadn't.

She wanted to kill all of them at this point. She wanted them dead for the hurt they caused her. They took her in, they knew she was alone, she was already hurt, and she had been before. But they couldn't resist tearing her heart up again. She gave them no reason to hate her, but then again, Robin and Raven never seemed to trust her. Well, not until they knew she had that scar… and that ring. She couldn't believe they would just want to take it from her. She had heard them saying without the ring she would basically be destroyed, but they didn't care, all they cared about was themselves. They were supposed to be heroes, why couldn't they think of anybody else.

The Titans were untouchable though, and she knew that. Many times have people tried to bring them down, and many times have they failed. There were jails filled with people trying to kill or even hurt the Titans, some of them were actually good at what they did. She knew she didn't stand a chance, not alone at least. Should she go see him? She would know where to go, what to do, or even if she wanted to see him. But she knew she wanted to hurt the Titans for what they did to her. They hurt her; it was only fair that she got a chance to hurt them, an eye for an eye, right? Of course it was right; it seemed perfectly logical to her.

"Well isn't this my day?" Laura heard a question being asked from behind her as she walked down the dark street of Jump City. She turned around upon hearing the odd voice that didn't seem human and knew who it was that was speaking. She had been told of Red X many times during her stay at Titans Tower. Robin and she had spent many nights discussing the villains the Titans had faced. She winced to herself at the thought of Robin, not concerned at all by the criminal standing now in front of her.

"Why would that be?" she asked pushing her thoughts of the Titans out of her head, at least for the moment.

"Well in case nobody has told you," he said stepping closer to her, "You're gorgeous." She felt somewhat uncomfortable with him coming closer to her. Not only was he a criminal, but also she figured that he didn't have the best intentions in mind right now.

"Take a step back, unless you want to be burnt in places that never should be burnt," she said sadistically lighting a fire in her hands. Red stayed where he was, obviously not afraid of her threat.

"Its ok sweetie, I'm not here to hurt you," he said, unconvincingly. She threw a warning fireball at his feet.

"Next one won't be a warning," she said, still as angry as every. Red stepped back to avoid the fire and decided not to move back.

"You look like you could use some help," he tried, not considering leaving just yet.

"Not from you," she said, not leaving either. The last thing she wanted to do was turn her back on this guy, she knew much better than that.

"Titan troubles? Its ok, we've all been through them."

"How do you know?"

"Well one, you have powers, obviously. Two, you aren't afraid of me, so obviously you have been told about me. And three, I could hear you muttering about wanting to kill them."

"What makes you think I need your help?"

"Well, you still haven't taken your chance to even hurt me yet, I doubt you would be able to kill people who save yours and the city's butts."

"Maybe I just want to get to know you," she said sarcastically, "And the Titans could only think about the city if their lives depended on it."

"Well someone seems very bitter."

"Really, I hadn't noticed."

"Look, if you want revenge, I can help."

"I don't want revenge," she said, trying to convince herself more than X. Why wasn't she just ending this? She could get away right now.

"If you didn't want revenge, you would have either killed me, or left by now," he pointed out. It was true; she was putting up with this for a reason.

"How can you help?" she asked. Although she couldn't see it, he smiled behind his mask.

"You'll just have to wait and find out." With that said, he disappeared into the night. What was he going to do? She really wished she had found out, she really didn't trust him. Maybe revenge wasn't the best way to get back at the Titans. Maybe she should just let it go.

_After all the hurt they caused you? _Laura heard someone ask, she realized it came from inside her head. She had almost forgotten about that voice.

"Slade," she whispered, "I can't believe I didn't realize it before."

_You should have child,_ he said, _You're smarter than that. You're better than them._

"So all this time you just wanted me to join you?" she asked, "All of this was just to get me to join you."

_That is true child, but I never predicted the Titans hurting you so badly, _he said, _I never saw Robin hurting you so badly. _She thought about it, he had hurt her, as she thought she felt all of her anger coming back to her. All those feelings of revenge rushed back.

"You can have your revenge," she heard behind her. She looked down the dark alley and saw Slade walk out, his robot army behind him.

"That should make me comfortable," she said, referring to the army, "And exactly how many villains want to help me get revenge."

"I'm sure many would love to use your powers to destroy the Titans," he said, "But they do not know how to use it. That Red X, he is merely a common thief. He isn't one who could help you."

"And you can?" she asked, "How much about me do you know?"

"I know that your mother had a lot more hidden than she let on."

"What do you mean?" her anger flaring once again as he mentioned her mother, "Why do you keep mentioning my mother?"

Slade laughed, "There is so much about your own life that you do not know."

"What do you mean?" she yelled, angrier than ever.

"You have been told of what a good person your mother was, I'm sure," he said, "Well, there were many things about her nobody knew. She had almost, a secret life."

"And how do you know this?"

"I guess you could say…" He paused, searching for the right words, "I was there."

* * *

Looking around the barren land that seemed almost primitive, Robin wondered why he was back here. Did he really think she would just come back? He hoped she would. He hoped she would come back and at least see if he were there, so he could figure out what was wrong, what had happened. He wished he knew why she was so upset. As he looked around at the burnt house, he tried to imagine what it must have been like, seeing a house just burn to the ground. He tried to imagine the firefighters desperately trying to stop the fire from spreading. He wondered what had caused the fire. Laura never told him what had caused the fire, maybe she never knew.

As he walked around the once house, he looked at the burnt wood. Something about it was different, not a natural fire. It almost seemed like someone had started it. 'Why even bother?' he thought to himself. It wasn't like if he figured this out Laura would come running back. Why did she run away in the first place?

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a glint in the dawn. He turned around and saw hanging from a tree branch, Laura's ring. He knew this was bad, Laura was extremely impressionable now, he knew he had to find her before it was too late.

"Has anyone spotted her?" he pulled out his communicator, asking for the hundredth time.

"Robin relax, she'll be fine," he heard one of the Titans say back over the communicator, he really wasn't listening enough to figure out who. What if something happened to her? He could have helped her if he had only fought back. He may have had to hurt her, but he could have stopped her from getting herself into trouble, exactly where she is now. There has to be something I can do to help her.

He picked the ring up, and held it in his hands. He couldn't believe such a small ring held such a great importance in her life. One ring set the uneasy balance she lived in. Did she even know of the delicate balance she was living in? Did she know what trouble she could be in without one small ring?

"It really is a shame isn't it?" Robin turned around, knowing exactly who was behind him.

"X, what are you doing here?" as he said this, he got into a fighting stance.

"Hold on kid, I'm not here to fight."

"Then what do you want?" He was already angry and upset, he didn't want to deal with Red X, or any criminal, right now.

"I'm just here to help you," he explained, "I know you're problem, I don't want to hurt you. That girl seems to though."

"What girl?" If he was talking about Laura, Robin didn't know what he would do.

"You know, the little rocker looking chick. Man does she hate you."

"What do you mean?" Hate him? He wasn't sure he could deal with hate, any other emotion he could help her out of, but not hate. And not the hate Red X made it seem like she had.

"Well, I didn't quite hear everything, but there was something she said about wanting to kill you Titans. She even asked for my help."

"I'm sure you were honored," Robin started to walk away, not wanting to deal with this right now. He had to find Laura; he could tell not having the ring was already affecting her. He hoped it was affecting her.

"I was," he heard X still talking, "You know, she really is cute." After this had been said, Robin felt his anger flare.

"You stay away from her!" he shouted, turning back to Red X.

"Relax kid, I'm not going to hurt her."

"Why are you doing this?" Robin asked him, he was starting to calm down, "You're a criminal, you shouldn't be helping us."

"Well if you don't want my help," Red X started, "I'm just trying to make your world a complicated place."

"That's a comfort," Robin turned away once again, "Stay away from Laura."

**A/N: My fourteenth chapter. I'm expecting your reviews, since the plot is finally thickening. I'm sure you would feel much better if I told you what happened as I continue the story, and I can't do that without your reviews. So leave a message and enjoy the story, its for you!!!**


	16. The Fifteenth Chapter

**Disclaimer: No funny line, you people need a serious answer from me. I don't own Teen Titans. You always expect some clever pun, or joke. I am like a clown to you!! Gosh you people need to take me seriously!!!!!**

**A/N: I am so relieved!! I just finished a huge project. Why do I care, you ask. Well I have plenty o' time on my hands now, therefore more writing time!!!!! If you have read my updated profile, you will see that I'm working on a secret project. Don't even worry about it, it won't effect the writing of this story at all. I've actually been planning it since before I thought of this story at all. But you know what will affect the writing of this story…. You guessed it, REVIEWS!!! I'm sorry, its just habit now to remind you that it takes only a short while, like a minute at the most, to leave me encouragement, or even suggestion, criticism, please no flames, especially the ones that say how much you hate the story without giving reason. Now if you can take the time to flame, you can take the time to suggest.**

**Chapter Fifteen**

"W-what do you mean?" she asked, shocked by what she had just heard. It wasn't everyday that one of the world's most notorious criminals tells you he and you mother used to be friends. It wasn't exactly something you wanted people to know either though.

"Did you not hear me child," Slade said, irritation in his voice, "You don't get it, do you?" Laura looked at him, a blank look on her face. She didn't know what exactly he wanted her to get. Right now she couldn't think straight at all between Robin, Red X, and now Slade telling her this. Whatever _this_ was.

"You're mother was no angel," he continued dismissing her confusion that showed very clearly on her face, "There were many things not even her husband knew." He paused, "No, not you're father," he almost read her mind, "I'm surprised you never figured that out."

"W-what?" Laura barely got out, her voice fleeting as she was at a loss of words. Slade smiled behind his mask, the girl knew nothing about her own life, not that he didn't know that. Laura's eyes widened, her mind milling over the information she had just been told. Try as she might, she couldn't comprehend it.

"So many family secrets, like you for instance," he spoke once more, "Nobody ever found out how exactly you were conceived, not even your 'father'." Laura remained silent, looking to the man for more information.

Slade laughed, "That's all child, you'll have to fill in the rest on your own," without another word, he disappeared into the breaking light. What had he meant, as if she weren't confused enough, now she had to figure this mystery out. What exactly was it that Slade expected from her? She didn't think she knew anything anymore. What was next? Her adoptive father shows up? Her mother lived?

She knew those things wouldn't happen, but at the pace her life was heading into total chaos it wasn't far off. She did know one thing though, she needed to go home and think about all of this.

Home? What exactly was home now? She wouldn't go back to the Tower, she couldn't. She couldn't bear to go back to that warehouse, but she supposed she had to. What about Tim? He had offered her a place to stay. But how long ago was that? He probably forgot about that promise. He still promised. She at least should give it a try.

How to find him though? She knew he was at home, probably sleeping; she could wait until he went into work, but that would be about two hours of hiding from the Titans, Red X, and Slade. She knew she could do it, but she would feel much better if she didn't have to. Plus, where would be the first place the Titans would go searching for her? Her job. She had to get off the streets now. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a piece of paper, seven numbers quickly scribbled on it. In the dim morning light, she saw a payphone across the street. As she walked up to it, she was able to pull fifty cents out of her pocket, and punched in the number, waiting anxiously as the phone rang. After what seemed like forever listening to the phone ring, she heard it being picked up, and Tim sleepily answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Tim," she said, relieved to hear him answer, "Sorry its so early."

"No, no its fine," he said, hearing the almost panic in her voice, "Is something wrong?"

"Well, its just….." she trailed off.

"Are you ok?" he asked, "I can come get you if you need help."

"Actually, that'd be good," she said softly, still shaken up from the confusing day she had just had, "Could you pick me up on the corner of 8th and Brave?"

"Of course, I'll be right there."

"Thanks," she said hanging up.

* * *

"Robin, we need to get home," Raven said over the communicator, "We need sleep."

"Laura needs our help," he replied, refusing to give up just yet, "Look, Raven…"

"What?"

"I found her ring hanging from a branch," he said, "She must have gotten rid of it after she attacked me."

"Are you sure its hers?"

"How many Ring's of Azare do you know are floating around town?" Raven thought about it, and Robin was right, Laura was in trouble.

"We'll keep looking."

* * *

Laura looked down the now light street, waiting to see Tim driving down towards her. She was so thankful that he hadn't minded getting up so early to come and get her, and even more thankful that he hadn't pressed her to give him answers on why she needed him to help her in the first place. She knew he would want to kow, and she might explain it to him, at least what she could explain to him, but all that mattered was that she would be away from the Titans. Now that her initial anger had cooled, her head was much clearer now. She wasn't thinking of murder and revenge, just getting on with her life, her normal life. Maybe Tim would help her get on her feet, in a few months she could start working on rebuilding her home, her only home. 

She stood up sighing a sigh of relief as she saw Tim pull down the road. He stopped the car on the corner, and let her in, not even having to ask where to go before he started driving off back to his house. As the two sat in silence, Laura couldn't help thinking about her life. She had messed it up many times in the past. Running away from countless people who could have saved her, hiding from those she loved, and then there was accepting the Titan's invitation. She was glad to add that to her list of things she did wrong in her life, because she was glad to understand why it was a mistake. Everyone in this town thought they were perfect, they had everything they needed, and didn't all good. She was glad to be in the minority that knew they were bad people, bad people who did good things.

"Are you ok?" Tim asked Laura after what seemed to him like an hour of silence, crammed all into about five minutes.

"Yeah," she said quietly, "I just had a little fight with the Titans." She didn't even bother to let him ask the question that was on his mind.

"Little fight?" he said with a soft laugh, "Kind of an oxymoron when talking about the Titans."

"Maybe," she thought about it. It defiantly was an oxymoron when describing her fight with the Titans.

"Ok, so it may have been a big fight," she said, getting quiet once more. She really didn't want her revenge-filled anger to return to her, she knew talking about the Titans would bring it.

"You can stay with me as long as you like," he said, Laura was relieved that she didn't have to ask him about it, she was already so embarrassed by this entire situation, she really didn't want to put an further embarrassment on herself by asking if she could stay with him.

"Thanks," she told him, "You have no idea how much all of this means to me."

"Its fine," he said, "I told you that you could crash at my place." He stopped the car soon after saying this, and turned it off.

"We're here," he said in a cheesy voice, proud to show off his life. He stepped out of the car, and then quickly ran around to Laura's side to let her out.

"My prince," she laughed softly, almost seeming unaffected by the entire night. She looked at the apartment building as they walked up to the front door, and couldn't help but notice how nice it was.

"How much exactly is Grimes paying you?" she asked smiling as they stepped into the building, and walked up to his second story apartment.

"Not as much as you'd think," he said stopping at a door at the end of the hall, "Actually my parents are paying for this while I go to college."

"College boy huh? Is this the part where I'm supposed to fall into your arms swooning over you vast brain?"

"You don't have to, but it wouldn't hurt. Actually its not really all its cracked up to be. I would kill just to travel the country and just take pictures."

"I would kill to go to college," Laura whispered. Tim then turned around, realizing that Laura did not have parents to pay for her college education, which meant she probably wouldn't be getting one, at least in her situation.

"Look Laura, I'm sorry," he said concerned, "It completely slipped my mi-"

"Look, don't worry about it," she stopped him, "I'm glad to know that its not everything you think about. I don't base my life off of it."

"Good to know," he said, throwing his bag on a chair near the door, "Well this is it. Not much, but it does the job." He looked over at the clock, and saw that it was already 8:30.

"Whoa, I should get down to the café," he said picking his keys up again, "You want a ride?"

"Actually, I think I'll just stay here today," Laura said, "I've had a ruff night."

"Ok," he said heading towards the door, "Sorry I couldn't give you the grand tour, we can make it a date when I get home, ok? Just make yourself at home."

"Thanks," Laura called out as he walked out the door. She looked around the apartment, it really wasn't much, Tim hadn't been lying, but it was something normal, she might actually have a normal life now, at least a chance at one.

* * *

"What does Red X want with Laura?" Raven asked now in the living room of Titans Tower. All of the other Titans ha voted to take a morning nap, but she and Robin had stayed up to talk about this since they really were the only ones who truly knew how much trouble Laura could be in. 

"I don't know, he said something about her wanting to kill us," Robin rested his aching head on his hand, "I don't understand any of this."

"What about those marks you mentioned?" Raven asked him, "They could be why Laura was acting so strange."

"How could I possibly know what they meant? I know nearly nothing about the Order of Scath."

"I don't know how we're going to figure this out. At least not before its too late." Robin thought about it, Raven was right, the way Red X made Laura sound, she wasn't too happy. And she was capable of nearly anything.

**A/N: That's all folks. Not for the story, no, the chapter. I'm sorry it took so long for me to update, but I had three projects due last week, one of which I had to do orally. I hate giving speeches. But enough about me and my life, how do you like the story? I love hearing what you think, yes I know you know what that means. Review!!**


	17. The Sixteenth Chapter

**Disclaimer: You know the drill, I say I don't own Teen Titans, throw in some half thought out joke, and then continue on with the story, authors note, ect, well that isn't going to happen!!! Well I have to say I don't own Teen Titans, since I am not DC, but…. Stop looking at me!!!!!!**

**A/N: Here we are people!! Already on the sixteen chapter!! Wow, I never thought the day would come, but here it is. I think we're all feeling a bit nostalgic here, thinking back to the prolog written so many months ago, and how far we have come in those months. I feel like hugging each and every one of you, but I can't so you'll just have to deal. And with my spring break around the corner, I will be writing to you so much more! Yes, more me, more me!!! Laughs insane laugh Yes well, unto the story.**

**Chapter Sixteen**

Laura lay on the couch in Tim's living room slash dining room, a tub of ice cream open in front of her. It had been a few hours since Tim had left and she called in sick to work, and she had gone through many mood swings in the short time as she thought about her many problems. She knew if she did want a normal life, which she found she was still very far from, at least from wear she was at, she knew she would need to get rid of her problems. The Titans, Red X, and especially Slade, needed to get out of her life. She just didn't know how she was going to get them out.

Another thing that was bothering her was her Slade problem. But she knew that was a long-term project if she wanted to get rid of that madman. She would concentrate on getting rid of him later, now she was worried about what he was trying to get her to realize. She knew it had something to do with her parents, that she understood. It just bothered her that for her entire life she hadn't known the truth about her father, or stepfather she figured.

But what had he meant that he had been there? She understood that Slade couldn't have been a criminal his entire life, but still, who would associate themselves with Slade, the vile, scumbag he was. Obviously he had been a part of her mother's life, but how? What was he doing with her mother? The mother that Slade had told her wasn't the angelic image she gave off. At this point she just wished she could change everything so that she had never met the Titans, not run away after her mother's death, and so many other mistakes she had made in her life.

But she couldn't, and Laura knew that. She would have to fix the mess she had gotten herself into, and she would have to fix it by herself. What did she think would happen if she figured out what Slade was trying to tell her? What would it fix? All that would happen would be the adding on to the pile of garbage that now completely covered her life. She knew Slade by now; she knew all he did was for his own gain. He never did anything to help another human being unless he got something out of it.

Still, her curiosity was too much to stop her from getting herself into another mess. Slade obviously wanted her to know who her true father was…. But what if-

"Nice place," Red X said sarcastically as he entered the room, unseen by Laura until he spoke.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him defensively, sitting up on the couch, completely discarding her previous thoughts as she stood up ready to defend herself.

"Relax, I come with good news."

"Of what?" she asked, actually calming herself down some, she really didn't trust Red X, but he seemed sincere enough.

"Well our plan, obviously."

"What plan?" there was a slight panic in her voice. She may hate the Titans, but if this were traced back to her, her normal life would go down the drain. Red X just laughed at her panic.

"Don't tell me you've changed your mind? It's a bit too late for that now." He looked at her; she was very cute when she was worried.

"N-no, of course not," she said a panic still in her voice, "I had just almost forgotten about that."

"Well, are you going to go see the show then?"

"Show?" her eyes slightly widened, this was all going to end up bad, she knew it, "Yes, of course."

"Then we should get going," he said, holding out his hand for her to take. She hesitated, but decided to take it, and before she could understand what was going on, she was just across the bay from Titans Tower.

"Where would she even go?" Robin asked as he and Raven still sat in the main room, now on the mainframe. The other three Titans had joined the two.

"Did any of us even check her old warehouse?" Beast Boy asked. The Titans looked at each other, it seemed so obvious. Why had they checked there?

"I'll go check," Beast Boy almost volunteered as the Titans looked back at him with questioning eyes. He slowly walked out of the room, turning into a hawk as he left the Tower. Although he didn't realize it, two gazing eyes were watching him.

"Don't worry kitten, we'll get him later," Red X spoke to Laura, who glared almost evilly as he called her 'kitten'.

"Don't call me that." She didn't even want to be here, she wanted to go back to Tim's place, and sort out her life, not make an even bigger mess for her to clean up.

"Relax. I'm sure you'll feel much better after we get rid of these Titans."

"What makes you think that a plan you came up with in a day will even work?"

"Because I've been planning this for quite awhile," he told her indignantly, "You're the only new addition to this whole thing."

"Then why am I even here?" she asked crossly, standing up to leave; X pulled her down quickly.

"You're here because this will run a lot smoother with you abilities."

"What do you mean?" she looked at him. Not only was she here to have to watch this, now he wanted her to help?

"Inside of the Tower is TNT, a lot of it, I would blow it with a detonator, but I can't seem to get it across the bay."

"And the Titans have no clue about all of this explosive in their highly secured home?"

"They haven't noticed for the past week." He shrugged.

"I'm not going to help you," she got up once again, X not pulling her back down, but standing up and following her.

"You were much more eager to help last night," he reminded her.

"Yes, and last night my rage was new, I wasn't thinking. Right now I just want to forget about all of this."

"Don't you think it would be a lot easier to forget without having to see that Tower or the Titans every again?"

"No, because it would be on my conscious for the rest of my life. And aren't you even concerned about what would happen to me when I'm in the Tower, directly next to the explosion?"

"Well aren't you invulnerable to fire?"

"Yes…."

"Then you only need to watch out for debris, after it blows, I can get you out of there."

"How am I supposed to trust you? A criminal?"

"Well you did think you could trust the Titans…."

"Just leave me alone, and leave me out of this!" she exclaimed before rushing off. Red X made no move to chase her but let her go. He knew she would be coming back soon enough. He knew for a fact that she wouldn't be able to resist this chance for long.

_Lets see, who am I bound to run into now? Right, Slade would be next in the pattern,_ Laura thought to herself, now merely walking down the streets of Jump City. _Perhaps fate will throw me a curveball and one of the Titans will show up. How could I possibly get myself into this mess? What did I ever do to deserve this? Maybe X is right; maybe I should just blow the Titans out of my life._

_Maybe you should, _she heard in her head; _maybe you should just throw your life away in doing so._

_Just leave me alone!!_ She thought, not wanting to cause a scene in the middle of the city, _I'm sick of all of this!_

_I'm sorry to hear that, _it was obvious he had little concern for her though_, but I was just wondering if you have figured out your own past yet._ There was smugness in his voice that confirmed what she had thought he was getting at before.

_Actually, I have. I don't plan on letting it ruin my life though_, actually it was quite disturbing to her, but she couldn't let that get to her.

_Don't lie to my child, especially when I can read your thoughts._

_Why don't you just get out of my life? _she asked, why couldn't this man just forget about her?

_You can't ignore me forever child. _With that said, he seemed to have actually left her alone. Laura didn't understand it. Did everybody in her life have to bother her within five minutes of each other? Was it not possible for them to just lay off?

* * *

"Any sight of her?" Robin asked Beast Boy over the main console.

"Not in the past thirty seconds since you called," Beast Boy said in an irritated voice, "I swear, you call me one more time and I'm going to turn off my communicator."

"Well just make sure you let us know the second you see any clues of where she is," Robin said turning off the computer. He didn't mean to be annoying he was just scared. That was something that didn't happen often to him. Sure he would get worried when his friends were in danger, or concerned when they were acting strange, but scared was on a completely different level than that. He knew his friends could take care of themselves and control themselves. He wasn't sure if Laura could take care of herself lately, and after the other night, he knew she couldn't control herself.

What he couldn't understand, no matter how hard he tried to, was exactly what Laura was so angry about and why. He knew he was wrong to just blow he off like that, but no one could get mad enough to kill somebody over something as minor as that. There was something more than that; she obviously didn't understand it herself, so how was he supposed to understand.

_You're not supposed to,_ he thought to himself_, All you're supposed to understand is that she wants you dead._

"Robin," Starfire said from behind him, "Perhaps you should get some of the sleep. You have been up all night searching for Laura."

"I can't," he said not looking back, "If I miss something important on Laura, I would feel horrible."

"We will alert you of any news as soon as we learn about it," she said walking over to him. He turned around, and looked her straight in the eye, seeing how concerned she was for him. He knew she wasn't just worried about his lack of sleep; she wanted to take his mind off of Laura, to distract him.

"Sure Star," he said getting up. He was pretty tired, and maybe he did need to stop thinking about Laura so much. He did need a break.

* * *

**A/N: Once again, there it is. I've got not much to say to you people, just to review. So have fun with that, and I'm out!!!**


	18. The Seventeenth Chapter

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. I don't own Teen Titans. I don't own Teen Titans. I don't own Teen Titans. I don't own Teen Titans. I don't own Teen Titans. I don't own Teen Titans. I don't own Teen Titans. I don't own Teen Titans. I don't own Teen Titans. I don't own Teen Titans. I don't own Teen Titans. Have I made my point yet??**

**A/N: Ok, I was hoping to get this chapter up before I leave on the 5th to go to Florida, but if not, you will be reading this on the 13th or 14th. If I do finish this chapter, then you will be reading it on the 1st. Aren't dates just fun? So not much of an Author's note, I have to get writing the story people!!!!!!**

**Chapter Seventeen**

"Slade," Laura said waking up once again in the lair of the madman who wouldn't seem to get out of her life, "What do you want this time? Reveal a secret twin? Perhaps I'm Robin's sister."

"Relax child, you're only here so that we can discuss… well life," He sat in a chair across from her. It was only after he said this that she realized she wasn't tied to the chair in anyway, she could leave right now. But she couldn't.

"What about life?" she asked looking at him suspiciously; she knew what he was capable of, by now she could write a biography on him.

"Well family of course. Isn't it obvious? This is what everything has been about for quite some time now."

"I know enough about my family to know that I don't have to stay here." But she didn't move, she was perfectly able to, but something else kept her from leaving, a longing inside of her that wanted to know, to finally stop wondering about her past. Slade seemed good as anybody to clue her in on the history that she never knew.

"Then leave," he stated simply, "If you don't want my information then go. But you do, you long to know what I know, to fill the void."

"Why did nobody tell me?"

"They never knew," he stood up, "You see Laura, like I told you, your mother kept many things to herself. Like her being a part of the Order of Azare for instance. It was one of the biggest secrets in her life, and the entire reason why you were born."

"W-what do you mean?"

"I mean, you were born for a reason. I know how badly you long to be normal, to forget the Titans, me, and everything about your past that makes you different. But you can't, and it kills you because you don't know why."

"But why?"

"Because you are the key."

"Wha--"

"You'll have to wait to find out that one."

"Why do I always have to wait?" she yelled, "Why can't I just get information for once?"

"Because you have yet to learn patience."

"Why have you waited so long to tell me? I've never had a true family, nobody I could trust, not since I was turned out to live on my own. Then you come along for no reason and mess things up even more!" She stood up, anger in her face. She looked straight at Slade, waiting for him to answer.

"Calm down child, you will not raise your voice to me," he said in an eerily calm voice, "The reason I never told you is because you never would have listened, you had to figure it out on your own, to make the conclusion yourself."

"I'm sorry if I can't be so calm as you are about these kinds of things."

"I should have known you would do something like this," she added her voice filled with venom, still wanting to run, her feet not moving. But she couldn't believe it… she had a father, she had family, she had a home.

"Well I'm glad you've come to know what to expect from me. You seem to be taking this all so well."

"How am I supposed to react well to finding out I have a father? He was supposed to be dead, he was supposed to be the man that burned next to my mother seventeen years ago!" she was beginning to calm down as she thought about all of this, "He wasn't supposed to be you." She began to walk away, not wanting to deal with the fact that her closest relative was a psychopath.

"Well child, there is nothing you can do to change that. Your life was never what you thought it was, it was all an act. Everybody in it was placed by a power you never knew in order to fulfill your destiny one day."

"Destiny?"

"I told you before, you're going to have to wait to find that out. But trust me, you will find it out."

"I hear there is going to be quite a show at the Tower today," he changed the subject without warning, catching the now leaving Laura off guard, "Not that I expect his plan to work, Red X is a clever person, but not so smart. He should know that his little bombs couldn't possibly do more than scratch the Titans' Tower. Perhaps if he is lucky it will catch fire."

"He won't blow it," Laura turned around, facing her father once again, "He can't, not without me."

"Then perhaps you should leave, I wouldn't want to be the reason why my daughter missed out on such a glorious opportunity to get the revenge she craves," Slade laughed and bent down slightly, "You haven't forgotten what Robin did to you, have you?"

She closed her eyes, and calmly stated, "I can never forget, but I'm not going to let it control me. I'm not going to let _you_ control me!"

"Just don't forget my previous offer child," Slade said as she walked away again, disappearing in the dark of his lair.

* * *

"Laura," Robin whispered in his sleep as he tossed, the sheets from his bed wrapped around his legs.

"_Its too late Robin," Raven called from across a dark room, he couldn't seem to make out where he was. Around him flames burned, and as he looked through them, he saw Laura smiling weakly._

"_Yeah Robin, its too late. You can't save them, you can't save yourself, so stop trying to save me!"_

"No…"

"_Yes, please Robin, we must go!"_

_Robin stared at Laura as he heard the calls from his team, he knew he would have to leave, he knew he would have to let her go, he knew she was right, he couldn't save her._

"_Goodbye," he closed his eyes as she said this to him, wishing he could stop all of this from happening, to save them._

_And before he knew it, everything was gone._

"No…" he said opening his eyes. Even as he was awake, he felt as though he needed to save her, Laura was still in danger, and he knew nothing he did would be able to help her. He sat up, rubbing his eyes through his mask, and unraveled himself from the cocoon he had created out of his sheets while he slept.

"Is Beast Boy back yet?" he asked walking into the main room, getting odd glances from the Titans.

"Dude, do you ever sleep for more than five minutes?" Cyborg asked him, the other two Titans still looking at him, not saying anything.

"Beast Boy said he was heading back, he couldn't find anything," Raven informed him, "And you've bee out for about an hour, Cyborg needs to stop being so immature."

* * *

"Glad you could join me," Red X looked back as Laura rushed up behind him.

"What are you doing?" she asked pointing to the long wire in his hands.

"Trying to blow this Tower," he said, "But I can't seem to get it to connect this wire."

"So you don't need me after all. I thought there was no solution to your problem."

"Well, as you have figured out, I have solved it." He stopped and looked back at her, "You can still help me if you want."

"I don't."

"You could get into the Tower easily, I'm sure."

"I'm not helping you," she said as he handed her the wire, obviously not listening to her.

"Of course you are," he looked into her eyes, "You know you want to, you have to." She looked at the wire in her hands, not sure of what she did want. She could get revenge, but did she really want it? Did the Titans really deserve this?

"Gimme the wire."

* * *

Making her way into the Tower, which wasn't as easy as Red X had made it seem, Laura silently scolded herself for getting into all of this. It was all too much; she could have avoided it so easily, why hadn't she been able to predict this happening. But then again, how could she have? She silently walked through the bottom floor of the Tower, going straight to the basement once she got inside. Maybe she would just stay in the Tower and die with the Titans, she deserved it, she knew she did. She had caused so much trouble in such little time; it was all too much.

Above her she could hear the faint mumbling of the Titans' voices. They really didn't expect this. But what if Slade was right? Maybe they would be okay.

She had to sort this out, she couldn't just leave it like this, it couldn't end this way.

She set the wire to the TNT carefully, making sure not to signal Red just yet by pulling the wire. She knew she would have to make this quick, before he became suspicious of something, but she knew she had to do something.

As she walked out of the TNT filled basement, her foot absent touched the wire, but she walked off none the wiser.

She knew they would be in the main room, it was a given. She took the elevator, wanting to make an entrance. They wouldn't be expecting her, but she hoped they wouldn't be ready to fight. She knew they would want to fight, that also was a given.

Laura winced as she saw that she was merely a few floors away from facing the Titans, and nearly had a heart attack as the elevator door opened.

"Hey Beast-" Cyborg stopped in mid-sentence as he turned around and saw her. The other Titans looked back as he stopped, all of them wanting to hurt her. She looked at Robin, not saying anything, and noticed that he didn't look like he wanted to hurt her, he wanted to help her.

"I'm sorry," she barely got out before she heard a loud bang below them, and silently cursed herself as the Tower shook.

"We have to get out," Raven, and the other Titans, reacted as they too noticed the explosion. But as Raven, Cyborg, and Starfire left, Robin didn't move. He silently stared at Laura, and she stared back.

"Go," she said looking at him, not moving, "Go before its too late."

"What about you?"

"Its already too late for me."

* * *

**A/N: Ok, I'm sorry that the ending sucked, I want to tell you why, but I can't… It has something to do with my secret project, and should be happening in about a month or when I get back in a week. Whenever I feel like it. I should just come out with it since you probably added two and two already; the answer is four. Crowd roars Don't shoot me for telling you! I wanted it to be a surprise! Please review and maybe I will tell those of you who haven't figured it out, but you must review before the fifth!! So hurry!!**


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